Safe House
by GhostWriter62
Summary: Graceland is forced to act as a safe house for a witness to the Solano drug ring after the FBI seized and searched a major dealer's home. The agents of Graceland come together to protect and seek intel from their new roomie. The problem? She's 5 years old. Can they care for a child while taking down trafficking ring? PIKE. (SEQUEL POSTED)
1. Chapter 1

Briggs ended the cell phone call with his boss and forced himself to get out of bed and get dressed. Graceland was getting a new roommate. He stood in the middle of the loft space and yelled out to the closed doors in front of him. "Everybody up! Family meeting. Downstairs. 5 minutes!"

Mike sat up and groggily looked at the clock on the nightstand. 6:10 am. He put his hands to his temples and fell back onto his pillow.

A small body was stirring next to him. "What's going on?" she asked. He turned to look at Paige, who was lying on her side, curled up and hugging the duvet close to her face.

"No idea," Mike said with an annoyed tone. He could hear Jakes and Johnny in the loft whining at Briggs.

"Living room. Couch. Now," Briggs said from out in the hall. Mike stood up and slid on some basketball shorts over his briefs.

He turned to Paige. "I'll go downstairs with everyone and then you can sneak back over and get dressed."

She nodded, but Mike wasn't convinced that she would stay awake. He threw on a t-shirt and leaned in to kiss her.

A smile creeped across her face. "I'm up; I'm up! Geez… I'll wait two minutes and then meet you downstairs. Just go see what's the matter."

Mike saw Charlie leaving her room as he turned to go down the stairs, and she followed behind him. The two of them sat on the couch next to Johnny and Jakes, who was holding a tall glass of orange juice in his hand.

Briggs was pacing in front of them, clutching his cell. He looked up at his housemates. "Where's Paige?"

Mike shrugged his shoulders and pretended to be disinterested. Briggs took a few steps over to the stairs, "P-Funk! Let's go!"

"I'm coming…" echoed from the loft, quickly followed by hurried footsteps.

Mike immediately noticed that she had just thrown on one of his hoodies, but he didn't think that now was the best time to call her out on it. She planted herself in-between Johnny and Mike, a smile somewhat-forcefully plastered on her face as she gave her attention to Briggs.

Charlie spoke first. "Paul, what on Earth…" but she was cut off by the doorbell.

Briggs looked at the door and then back at his roommates. "Just wait here a second." He walked over to the door, but it opened on its own. Clarke, their assistant director, walked in and spoke quietly to Briggs.

Upon seeing Clarke, Jakes got up from the couch. "Why am I up this early for some FBI emergency?"

"It's a house matter, babe," Charlie said to him, "not just FBI." Chuck reached out to Jakes and gently coerced him to sit back down with the group.

Briggs peered out to look behind Clarke into the entranceway, but quickly averted his eyes back to his boss. The others could see Briggs nodding and they watched as Clarke turned around and left the house.

Briggs sighed and made his way back over to his housemates.

"Briggs, man, what is going on?" Johnny asked with a more serious tone than usual.

"We," Briggs started, looking at each of them as he spoke, "are getting a new roommate for at least three-five weeks".

Mike looked puzzled. "That's it?" he asked. "We needed to have an emergency meeting over a new roommate?" The others were nodding in agreement.

"Wait, wait, wait, there's more to it than that," Briggs said as he sat down facing them. "Graceland will be acting as a safe house. You remember Lil' Top? The guy who treated our Paige with so much care? Well, his buddies had a house where they kept stock. Weapons, coke, cash, identity cards, everything." He paused for a second to make sure everyone was still paying attention and then glanced over at the front door again before continuing. "Well, the FBI raided the house two nights ago and took all the guys into custody. Only a few were there during the take-down… but last night, our guys go back to gather more evidence, and they found a –" but Briggs couldn't finish his story because the door opened again. Briggs, along with his five housemates, turned to see who it was.

Standing in the doorway was their FBI assistant director. In one hand he held a small duffel bag, and the members of Graceland could see a little girl standing behind him with her two hands wrapped tightly around his leg.


	2. Chapter 2

Paige grabbed Mike's hand. "Oh my gosh," she said under her breath. Mike squeezed her hand back, but looked at Briggs as though he thought this was the worst idea in the world.

Paige stood up first, making her way through the living room and over to the foyer. "Hey there," she began, squatting down a few paces away from the girl, "are you hungry? We have some really good breakfast…"

The girl closed her eyes and hid her head from Paige's view by standing behind the FBI A.D., but after a few moments of silence, she slowly nodded her head. Paige walked up to her and reached out to take her hand, but as soon as she made contact, the girl jumped away and pulled her arms in tightly up to her chest.

Clarke turned his head and gave a bit of an audible sigh. He looked back over at the group. "We haven't been able to get her to eat since we found her. We've only had her in custody for five hours. She hasn't said a word. We don't even have confirmation on a first name."

Now that the girl had let go of him, he walked passed Paige, over to Briggs and the others on the couch. He placed the duffel bag down on the floor, hoping that his movement would get the girl to follow him into the house.

Clarke's cell began to ring, and he had a short conversation confirming the placement in temporary custody for the child. His facial expression changed, and after hanging up the phone he apologetically said, "I have to go. I'll send more intel when I can."

But instead of walking back over to the door he came in, he went down the main staircase to the lower level and used the beach exit.

The little girl remained silent by the door, staring blankly into the living room and assessing her new surroundings. Paige could sense that she was trying to fight back tears.

Without missing a beat, Charlie stood up, clapped her hands together and said pretty loudly, "Well, I would just love some pancakes right now. Guys, you in?" Understanding her intentions, the boys followed her into the kitchen, and Johnny started to make a big bowl of pancake batter.

Paige watched the others walk away and got an encouraging smile from Mike when he realized Paige wasn't going to follow them into the kitchen. Paige didn't want to give up on getting her to join them for pancakes.

She squatted down and sat on her knees. "My name is Paige," she said, realizing that she hadn't introduced herself. "Nobody here is going to hurt you." She spoke slowly with a gentle voice, trying to gauge a reaction. "I know that a lot has happened over the past two days, but I also know that you're hungry…" Paige glanced over at the others, "Would you like to come eat with me and my friends?"

The girl looked up and shifted her gaze back and forth from Paige to the now-somewhat noisy kitchen. "Come on," Paige said with a smile, holding out her hand. To Paige's disappointment, the girl stepped back again, but continued to eye the kitchen.

"My friends are kind of loud… but we are all here to keep you safe. We work for the good guys." Paige was trying to figure out what she needed to say to gain her trust. The girl looked so fragile and based on her size, Paige suspected that she was malnourished. "What if we ate over here? Can I bring food just for the two of us over here and we can sit by the door?" The girl made eye contact with Paige and slowly nodded her head. "Good girl," Paige said with a big smile, "I'll be right back."

Paige quickly walked over to the kitchen and told Johnny to make two plates of pancakes. Jakes grabbed the container of juice and filled two glasses. Charlie had found a tray and placed the pancakes she got from Johnny and two forks on it. Paige put the glasses of juice on the tray and carefully walked back over to the foyer.

In an attempt to coax her out of the entranceway, Paige set the tray of food down a few steps away from her. Just as she had hoped, the girl walked up to Paige and sat on the floor. She waited for Paige to take a bite before starting to eat. It saddened Paige to see how quickly she ate, but Paige never let the smile leave her face, wanting to be encouraging.

Briggs had peered out from the kitchen, and when Paige saw what he was holding, she nodded at him. Briggs slowly made his way over to the girls, carrying three dishes of sliced fruit. He sat down facing them and handed Paige a dish. Briggs smiled and reached out to the girl, trying to get her to take one of the plates of fruit from him, but Paige wound up taking it and placing it in front of the girl.

Once again, Paige had to take a bite before the kid would eat it, but within a few seconds, the fruit was gone from the small bowl and the glass of juice in front of her was empty.

"My name is Paul." Briggs spoke slowly and tried to be as friendly as he could. "We have some more food in the kitchen. Are you still hungry?"

The girl nervously looked up at Paige and then over to Briggs before nodding again. Briggs stood up with the tray and walked into the kitchen. Sensing that the food had sparked a bit of trust, Paige stood up too and took a few steps forward. "Come on," she said with a big smile, "my friend Johnny can make you pancakes in any shape you want." Paige's smile grew when the girl started walking along side of her, and her heart melted when she felt a little hand clutch onto a few of her fingers.

Mike, Charlie, and Jakes were sitting at the table, and Briggs was over by Johnny, requesting more pancakes for their new guest. Paige sat down next to Mike at the table and the girl climbed up next to her, but kept her head down and stared at her lap.

Johnny was excited to see that he had a new pancake fan and yelled out over to the table, "I can do all kinds of shapes and animals! What do you want?"

Feeling pressure to speak, the girl reacted to Johnny's question by leaning in and curling up into Paige. Charlie had noticed that there was a picture of Minnie Mouse on the girl's shirt. "How about a Minnie pancake?" she asked with a smile. Even though she never answered Charlie, she smiled when she saw the perfect Minnie-shaped pancakes on the plate in front of her, along with another glass of juice.

There were only a few bites left on her plate when the girl decided she was finished and curled back into Paige.

Paige sat still, unsure if she should do more to try and comfort the girl. After a few minutes, Jakes nodded to her. "I think she's asleep," he said. Paige looked down at the girl and smiled. She gingerly lifted her from the bench and carried her over to the couch in the living room. Mike met her with a blanket and Paige tucked it around the girl's small frame before walking with Mike back into the kitchen.


	3. Chapter 3

Mike and Paige joined the others at the table in the kitchen and Briggs started to speak in a hushed voice. "Did she say anything to you at all?" he asked Paige. She had brought the duffel bag over to the table and started to go through the contents.

"Nothing," she said, "I got her to nod her head a few times, but that was it. Do you know what kind of conditions she was living in? She's so tiny, her clothes are worn and she definitely hasn't had a bath in a few days."

Briggs looked over to Charlie for a reassuring nod before answering Paige's question. "I was told by the FBI that when the investigators were going through the house for evidence, they found her in a small closet in one of the bedrooms. They had no idea how long she had been in there and they said they didn't see any kind of child's bedroom in the house. They suspect she's the daughter of one of the guys in the ring."

"Did they do any kind of medical check?" Paige asked him.

"Not as far as I know," Briggs replied with a shrug. He could tell that Mike's head was spinning with an idea.

"So-," Mike began, "wouldn't she know exactly who all these Solano dealers are? Do you think she has intel on the buses? Do you-?"

"Mike," Johnny quickly cut him off, "she won't tell us her name. Do you really think she's gonna tell us all about the people who've been treating her like crap?"

"No, Johnny, not today," Paige said, "but in a few days, if we can gain some trust, she might be the best C.I. we'll have."

Jakes took a breath. "Where are we putting this kid?"

"We're going to turn Lauren's room back into a bedroom up on the third floor next to the phone room," Charlie said. She looked over to Paige and at the same time they both gasped and said, "We need to go shopping!"

Jakes grinned and looked at Paige. "You're not going anywhere, mama bear. What are we supposed to do if she wakes up and you're gone?"

"Johnny, get some paper and a pen," Charlie said, "You and Jakes are going grocery shopping." Johnny wrote down what the girls told him to and went upstairs to get dressed before heading out. Jakes took a bit of convincing, but he left with Johnny to go get groceries for the house.

"Our favorite boss," Briggs said sarcastically, "handed me an envelope with a couple hundred bucks in it for clothes, bedding and whatever else we need to get. Chuck, you want to drive down to the mall with me and we can pick up some stuff?"

"Yeah," she replied, "Let me go and get freshened up first though." Before leaving the kitchen, Charlie turned around and added, "She's pretty much stuck in this house, right? We should probably get some G-rated movies and books, too? Lord knows what shit is saved on that DVR…"

Briggs followed her upstairs, leaving Paige and Mike alone to do the dishes and clean up the kitchen.

Mike was finally able to tell Paige that he didn't appreciate her stealing his sweatshirt out of his room, which she was still wearing. What he didn't tell her though, was that he loved the way she looked in it. Seeing his smile, she playfully kissed him a few times. His hands went to her hips as he continued to kiss her, but she suddenly pulled away.

"What's the matter?" Mike asked with a smile, "You okay?"

Paige's eyes had become watery and she had raised her hand up to cover her mouth. "Do you think they…?" she asked herself quietly.

"Do you think they what, Paige?" Mike asked, placing a hand gently on her shoulder.

"Do you think these guys hurt her? Lil' Top didn't think twice about putting a knife through my hand and we know that they're trafficking…"

Mike pulled Paige into a close hug. He wrapped his arms around her tightly and gently kissed the top of her head. He knew he wasn't very good with little kids, but he found himself confidently telling Paige that everything would be ok.

Another hour went by and the house looked a lot more straightened up. All the dishes were put away and Mike had made his bed with precision. He thought he heard something in the living room and made his way downstairs thinking that maybe someone was getting back from shopping. But as he got closer to the bottom of the staircase, he realized that the sound was whimpering.

He noticed movement on the couch and yelled back up the stairs for Paige. Not getting an answer, he walked quickly over to the girl and realized that she was having a nightmare.

Mike instinctively got down on one knee and reached out to her, gently moving his hand across her forehead. He noticed that her fingers were clenched in a fist and that she was starting to twist her body. Her eyes were scrunched tight and after Mike saw her kick her leg, he knew he needed to wake her up. "Hey there," he started, "you're ok. C'mon, it's just a dream. Wake up for me."

He took hold of her fisted hand and moved his thumb back and forth across the tops of her fingers, repeating short comforting phrases.

It wasn't working.

Mike looked back towards the stairs and yelled for Paige again. When he heard quick footsteps he turned back to the girl.

He immediately let go of the little girl's hand when he saw that her eyes were staring up at him. It was obvious to Mike that she was terrified.

Paige made it over to the couch and sat down next to the girl's head. Seeing her try to move off the couch, Paige gently scooped her up and sat the girl in her lap. Mike sat on the coffee table and watched as the girl buried her face in Paige's chest. "You're ok," Paige said to her softly. She rubbed circles on the girl's back.

Mike tried to hide his worried expression when he saw that the bottom of the girl's shirt had lifted up a bit, exposing what looked to him like cigarette burns.


	4. Chapter 4

Mike looked more closely at the marks on the girl's lower back. He saw three dime-sized burns close together, but he assumed she was probably hurt more that that. He didn't want to startle Paige or the girl, but he could see that the burns needed to be cleaned and treated, and he knew they must still be somewhat painful.

"Stay here, I'll be right back," he said to Paige quietly. She looked at him a bit puzzled, but gave him an expression suggesting that she couldn't really move anyway.

Mike went into the kitchen cabinet where they kept a small first aid kit and took out the antiseptic wipes, burn cream, gauze pads, and medical tape. Mike walked back into the living room and set the stuff down quietly on the coffee table. Paige looked at him with a worried face. She adjusted the girl a bit so that she could see what Mike saw. She let out a small gasp.

Paige tapped her hand on the couch, gesturing for him to sit. Mike looked a little hesitant, but sat close to Paige. "Hey there," Mike said to the little girl still snuggled in her lap, "my name is Mike. I'm sorry if I scared you."

"He's my best friend," Paige said to her, trying to sit her up a bit, "and he's going to help me keep you safe, ok?" She waited a few moments before continuing, trying to figure out how she was going to phrase what she needed to say. "Does your back hurt, sweetheart?" she asked quietly. The girl looked up at Paige, her eyes were still a little red.

"Did somebody burn you?" Paige asked slowly. The girl nodded her head.

Mike could see that Paige was putting some effort in to not look upset.

"Would it be ok if I helped it stop hurting?" Mike asked. Paige smiled at the way he phrased the question. The girl looked over at Mike, and then back to Paige before nodding her head.

Mike sat on the coffee table and helped Paige shift the girl so that her legs straddled Paige's lap. The girl could feel that Mike was right behind her and she buried her head back into the center of Paige's chest. When Mike went to lift the back of the girl's shirt, he saw some bruising he hadn't noticed before. "We need to –" he said quickly to Paige, handing her the bottom seam of the shirt.

"Let's get this off," Paige said lifting the shirt up over the kid's head, "and we'll get you a new clean shirt to wear." Paige had to get the girl to let go of her so that she could slide the shirt down her arms. The girl didn't help her, but didn't quite resist either.

Mike had gotten out his cell phone and took a few pictures of her back, not sure if they would need the evidence later, or if anyone overnight at the FBI had taken any.

He put the phone down and tore open the wipe pack. Paige had one hand on the back of the girl's head, gently running her fingers through the dark curly hair. Paige's other arm was wrapped around the girl's hips in a hug so that she could hold her close.

The girl squirmed when Mike began to clean the burns with the antiseptic. Paige repeated to her over and over that she was ok and held her tight. Mike had seen two more burn marks on her right shoulder when they removed her shirt, and he cleaned those as well.

As soon as Mike put the burn cream on one of the marks, the girl relaxed her muscles and exhaled. "See?" Mike said, "I told you it would help."

"Does that feel better?" Paige asked her. She nodded her head, but continued to hold on to Paige, her arms in a tight hug around the woman's ribs.

Mike carefully finished putting the cream on each of the burns and covered the spots with small gauze pads, securing them with the medical tape so that they would be easy to remove later.

"Are you burned anywhere else?" Paige asker her quietly. She shook her head no.

"Second drawer on the left in my dresser," Paige said to him, "bring back a small gym shirt."

He returned the supplies to the kitchen cabinet and went upstairs for a clean shirt.

Paige sat the girl up and looked her in the eyes. "Ok," she said, "it's just you and me." Paige held both of the girl's hands, "What's your name, sweetheart?" The girl put her head back down on Paige's chest and then mumbled something quietly.

Mike was heading back down the steps, one of Paige's short-sleeved t-shirts in his hand, but Paige held up her arm and flexed her palm at him, telling him to stop and stay where he was. "I'm sorry," Paige said to her, "I couldn't hear you because of my friend making some noise on the steps. Can you tell me what your name is again?"

The girl didn't look up at Paige, but very clearly whispered, "Jessie."

Paige gestured with her hand for Mike to come over to them, and Paige sat her up so that she could help her put on the clean shirt. "Mike," Paige said to him, "this is our new friend, Jessie." Mike smiled at Paige.

The front door swung open. Jakes and Johnny had returned with bags of groceries. Mike went over to help the guys put everything away.

"Do you want to go sit in the kitchen?" Paige asked her, "I'll sit with you at the table."

Jessie nodded her head and Paige lifted her up and carried her into the kitchen on her hip. Jessie wrapped her arms around Paige's neck and laid her head on the woman's shoulder as they went to join the guys. Paige looked over at the clock; it was only a little after 9am. This was going to be a long first day.


	5. Chapter 5

Paige walked over to the bench at the table in the kitchen and put Jessie down on the seat before scooting in to sit next to her.

The boys were unloading bags of groceries and Jakes was arguing with Johnny about something he had said on their way up the stairs to the house.

"Hey Johnny," Paige yelled over to him, "did you pick up those drinks Charlie told you to get?"

"You know it, P," he said, trying to find what she was talking about in the bag. "You want one now?" he asked.

"Yeah and put the rest in the fridge."

Johnny took one of the PediaSure drinks out of the six-pack and tossed it underhand over to Paige.

"Oooh, vanilla," Paige said trying to be excited about the drink. She twisted the cap open and put it down in front of Jessie. "Can you try some of this for me?" Paige asked her, "It will help make you strong."

The girl grabbed the drink with both hands and took some sips. "Is it yummy?" Paige asked her. Jessie smiled and nodded. "Ok, good," Paige said to her, "it's all yours."

Paige looked over at the guys when she realized they had gotten kind of quiet. She saw Mike discreetly showing Jakes and Johnny the photos he took of Jessie's scars.

Johnny walked over to the table and sat across from the girls, a cold, left-over pancake in his hand.

"Jessie," Paige said to the girl, "this is Johnny, and that's Dale, but we call him Jakes," pointing over to Jakes by the counter.

Johnny made a fist and slowly reached out to Jessie. "Can I get a 'welcome to the house' fist bump?" he asked her. Jessie looked up at Paige not sure what to do. Paige fist-bumped Johnny. He left his fist up in front of Jessie, "C'mon girl, don't leave me hanging…"

Paige nodded, "go ahead," she told her. Jessie made a fist and lightly tapped Johnny's hand. "There you go," Johnny said, "so have you lived in California for a long time?"

Jessie took another big sip of the drink and shrugged her shoulders.

"Have you even been surfing?" he asked her. Jessie leaned her head up against Paige and shrugged her shoulders again. "Oh, we gotta go sometime then," he said smiling at her.

"Johnny," Jakes said from across the kitchen, "leave the kid alone and go get some work done."

"By work, I hope you mean catching some waves, because that's where I'm going to be all morning." Paige let out a small laugh, but turned to Jessie when she realized that the girl was tugging on her sleeve.

"What's the matter?" she asked her. Jessie was looking nervously around the room and had repositioned herself so that she was sitting up on her knees.

"Do you need to use the bathroom?" Mike asked her. Jessie nodded at Paige, who was already standing and reaching out to take the girl's hand.

"All of that OJ this morning..." Jakes said with a smile, "You didn't give the kid a house tour yet?"

"She's been asleep," Mike replied.

"Which is exactly what I'm about to do," Jakes said. He walked upstairs to take a nap and Mike felt himself get a bit jealous. He and Paige had only managed to get a few hours of sleep before Briggs woke the house up.

"C'mon," Paige said, walking with Jessie through the kitchen, "there's one over here." They made their way over to the bathroom and Paige shut the door behind them.

"Do you need any help?" she asked her. Jessie shook her head no. When she was done, Paige gave her some hand sanitizer.

"Do you want to see the whole house?" she asked her. Jessie nodded as they walked back out into the living room and Paige could tell she was taking in the vast size of the space for the first time.

"Well, this is our living room and back there is a bigger dining table where we eat sometimes," Paige said, gesturing to the opposite corner of the room. They walked towards the glass wall.

"This is my favorite part though," Paige told her. "Isn't the beach so pretty?" Jessie nodded and continued to hold Paige's hand as they made their way back into the kitchen.

Mike was still in the kitchen, standing up against the counter, waiting for his coffee to be ready.

"We all share the kitchen and cook together," she said. Paige walked over by Mike and opened one of the lower cabinets that had some boxes with granola bars and pretzels. "We eat some pretty big meals around here, but if you ever want a snack you don't have to ask; just come take some fruit or something out of here, ok?" Jessie smiled at her.

"You ready to go upstairs?" she asked her. Jessie looked over at the dark modern staircase and seemed hesitant. "C'mon," Paige said with a big smile, "I'll show you my room." Jessie wasn't totally convinced that she wanted to go, but then had a different idea.

"I guess I'm joining the tour," Mike said. Paige looked at him and he raised his eyebrows. He nodded down to Jessie, who Paige noticed had grabbed a few of Mike's fingers with her free hand.

Mike and Paige were both grinning as they walked out of the kitchen; the three of them went up the stairs together to explore the rest of the house.


	6. Chapter 6

Jessie squeezed Paige and Mike's hands as they got closer to the second floor of the house. "Ok, so this is the loft," Paige said, "and there's a big bathroom right there." Paige pointed to the left of where they were standing.

They walked a bit over towards the bathroom. Briggs' door was open a little. "Do you remember Paul from this morning?" she asked her. Jessie nodded her head. "This is his room," Paige said, "and then this one…" Paige walked back around over to Charlie's room, "is where Charlie stays."

Jessie looked up at Paige with a confused expression. "I don't think…" Mike started to say to Paige.

"She went out to the store with Paul to go get you some new clothes and toys," Paige said to her. Jessie looked down at the floor. "She's really nice," Paige said, almost as a whisper, "I think you'll like her a lot."

Mike turned them around and they walked over to Jakes' room. The door was shut, but Jessie knew whom they were talking about and acted like they needed to be quiet because she knew he wanted to sleep.

Johnny's door was wide open and Jessie peered in, checking out the surfboards in the corner.

When they got to the next door, Jessie looked up at Mike. "Yep," he said, "this is my room."

He opened the door and walked the girls inside. Jessie looked around at the walls and Mike smiled at her careful inspection.

But then it happened.

Mike gasped and Paige understood him, but she was too late. Jessie had already let go of both their hands and was running back down the stairs.

Mike had left his gun out on the dresser.

"Shit!" Mike yelled, running after her as fast as he could. He got to the bottom of the stairs, Paige right behind him, but Jessie was nowhere in sight.

"Shh," Paige whispered to him, "listen." There were some hushed whimpers coming from the living room. They walked over to the couch, but still didn't see her. Another little whimper…

Paige smiled when she realized where the girl was hiding, but felt heartbroken. She sat on the floor and slowly lied down on her stomach. Just as she suspected, Jessie was on the floor under the couch, hands covering her face.

"Hey there," Paige said softly. Jessie scooted away. "Do you remember when I told you we were the good guys?" The girl nodded, but still wouldn't look at Paige. "I wasn't lying to you; we are the good guys… but the good guys need help in order to catch the bad guys sometimes…. I'm sorry that Mike's gun scared you."

She wasn't sure how to continue.

"I don't want to lie to you, sweetheart. We have some guns in the house… but we only use them to stop the bad guys when we go to work. We don't use them in the house. I promise."

Jessie lowered her hands from her face and looked over at Paige.

"Will you come out from under there now?" Paige asked gently.

Jessie didn't budge.

Paige looked up at Mike. She didn't want to be upset with him; it could have happened in her room just as easily.

Mike got down on the floor next to Paige. "My job is to keep you safe, remember? No body is going to hurt you anymore. I'll keep the gun locked away from now on though, ok?"

Jessie looked at him and Mike could tell she was thinking. "You promise?" she whispered.

Mike sighed with relief, "I promise." He felt like he had done something right if she trusted him enough to speak to him.

She crawled out from under the couch. Paige lifted her up into her arms and gave her a big hug. "I'm so sorry that we scared you." Jessie rested her head on Paige's chest and let out a yawn.

"Oh yeah?" Mike said to her playfully. "I could totally take a nap right now too."

"Are you still tired?" Paige asked her, kissing her forehead. Jessie nodded and closed her eyes. Paige started to walk back towards the stairs, but this time she was the one to grab Mike's hand.

He didn't let go and allowed her to lead him to her room. Paige shut her door behind them.

She sat on the bed and slowly laid back, keeping the girl's head propped on her shoulder and letting her little frame fall to the side once she had lain down.

Paige smiled when she saw Jessie snuggle into the pillow in the middle of the bed.

Mike covered the two of them with the blanket from the foot of the bed before walking around to the other side and joining them for a nap.

Mike reached across Jessie and lightly tapped Paige. "I'm sorry," he whispered. Paige nodded, "It could have happened to anyone. I should have checked first."

"I think we're going to need to explain what undercover is…" Mike said.

Paige could tell that his head was buzzing. "We'll get Solano, Mike," she whispered to him. "We'll get him."

They both closed their eyes and tried to enjoy the beauty of a mid-morning nap.


	7. Chapter 7

Paige woke up and looked over at the clock on the bedside table. 12:43. She tried to get out bed, but stopped when she realized that Jessie's leg was positioned over her knee. The girl's face was under the blanket, but she saw a little hand resting on top of Mike's chest.

Paige gently slid her leg out from under Jessie and headed into the bathroom.

"Hey, how did it go?" Paige asked. Charlie was at one of the sinks washing her hands.

"Pretty good," Charlie said, "Paul's upstairs moving some of the boxes and storage around so we can put the room together. How did everything go here? Johnny mentioned something about burn marks?"

Paige exhaled, "Yeah, I guess Mike saw them when I was holding her. We got her to let us clean them. She's got bruises too and I know she's malnourished, but we didn't want to pry too much yet…"

Charlie was nodding at her. "And you got her to talk?"

Paige smiled, "We're getting there… she's said a few words. I think she's doing well, all things considered. She's sleeping in my room right now." Paige hesitated slightly before continuing, "Mike's in there too."

Charlie's eyes got big. "Wait, you kidding me?" she said, "I have to go get my camera."

Paige snickered and walked out of the bathroom with Charlie. She stood in the doorway of her bedroom as Charlie silently snapped a few pictures.

They quietly made it out of the room and Charlie led Paige up to the third floor.

Paige was impressed with how much Briggs and Charlie had gotten done while she was sleeping. Most of the boxes and filing cabinets had been carried into the hallway to expose the bedroom furniture that had been left in the room after Lauren was removed from Graceland.

"I got some kid-friendly bedding and I had to guess with the clothes, but we got a lot of basics and some sandals," Charlie told her. Paige went in and sat on the mattress. "What's up, kiddo?" Briggs asked her.

"So, I think we need to talk with her about undercover if we're going to get her to identify any of the Solano guys," Paige explained.

Briggs looked up at her. "Did she mention anything about where she was living?" he asked. Paige shook her head, "No, but she saw Mike's gun. It was on his dresser and she freaked out. Do you think she knows what it is from television or something? Most kids would think it was a toy, but she sprinted and hid under the couch." Paige's voice cracked as she told the story.

Briggs took a breath. "She saw someone get shot," he said simply. "Someone from the FBI is stopping by later to give us a stack of profiles – photos, lists of names… they want to see if she can ID some of them or tell us how involved they were."

"That might take some time," Charlie said, shaking her head.

"Yeah, I don't want her to think that we are connected to those people or to that house…" Paige said, "which is why I think we need to explain what we do. Maybe she'll understand and be more willing to –"

"Paige!" Mike screamed up the stairs. Paige didn't finish her conversation with Briggs and turned around, moving quickly down the steps to her room. Charlie followed behind her.

Jessie was still lying on Paige's bed, crying with her knees pulled up to her chest and her hands covering her face.

"I tried," Mike said, "but I think I made it worse."

Paige walked over to the bed and gently rested her hand on the girl's back. "Shhh, I'm right here. You're ok," she repeated over and over. After a few minutes Paige noticed that Jessie's breathing evened out a little.

"Can you look at me, sweetheart?" Paige gently asked her.

Jessie lowered her hands a little and opened her eyes. She looked over to Charlie and Mike and then back to Paige. She lifted her arms out to Paige, who swiftly pulled her into a close hug. "Do you want to go downstairs?" Paige asked her. Jessie nodded into Paige's shoulder. "Let's go get a snack" Paige said.

Charlie and Mike let Paige walk passed them, but before Mike could follow behind her, Charlie reached out and grabbed his arm. She took out her phone with her other hand and waved it in front of his face. "I took some really cute pics this afternoon," she said casually.

He looked confused at first, but she watched as his face changed when he realized what she meant. "You didn't…" he said. She smiled at him and said sarcastically, "Mikey, you know it's a house rule that there are no pictures at Graceland."

"Hey, Mike," Briggs said, walking down the stairs to get his attention, "FBI is sending over some updated Solano files – new intel from the raid I guess."

Mike squinted his eyes at Charlie and pointed to her phone. "This isn't over," he said. She just smiled at him.

Mike turned and followed Briggs downstairs, asking him more about the case. Charlie wasn't far behind.

In the kitchen, Paige was sitting at the table with Jessie in her lap. There was a small plate with some apple slices and few a pretzels. Johnny went and got some paper and markers; they were trying to get Jessie to draw.

Johnny sat down and took a piece of paper and a marker and began to draw a picture. Paige did the same. After a few minutes Jessie uncapped a blue marker and started to color.

Charlie noticed that the PediaSure was back on the table and that Paige had been trying to get the girl to drink more of it.

The doorbell rang. Jessie dropped the marker and curled back up into Paige.

Paige immediately started trying to keep her calm, explaining that Paul and Mike went to the door and that no one was going to hurt her.

Briggs walked back in a few minutes later with a file box. He put it down on the counter, making a joke about how much homework Mike and Johnny had to do. Jessie looked over at the box and her eyes started to tear up. Paige could hear her repeat "no, no, no" over to herself as she cried into Paige's chest, her little arms clinging tightly. Johnny looked over at the box and then back to the girl. "You idiot," Johnny said to no one in particular, "she can read."

Paige looked over at the box and saw that written in large print with a black marker was the address of the house that was raided with the name "Solano" printed underneath.


	8. Chapter 8

Paige held Jessie close to her. She couldn't believe that the boys brought that box into the kitchen. She looked down at the girl and whispered, "Can you read, Jessie?" She nodded.

"I told you!" Johnny said to the room. "You are the smartest little kid I know!"

He held out his hand for a fist-bump, but Jessie wasn't paying attention.

"Can Johnny get a fist-bump?" Paige whispered to the girl. Jessie slowly turned towards Johnny and cautiously obliged, punching Johnny's hand.

She cracked a small smile when Johnny opened his hand really big and said "explosion" in a funny voice.

Paige had an idea. "Can you write too, smarty pants?" Jessie shrugged her shoulders and then nodded. "Can you write your name for me?" Paige asked.

Everyone in the room watched as Jessie picked the blue marker back up and wrote "J-E-S-S-I-E" in big letters across the page.

"What about your last name?" Paige asked. She didn't expect the girl to be able to do it, but was excited when she wrote "B-A-R-O-N-E" right underneath her first name on the paper.

Paige looked over to Mike. He saw the name she wrote and started to go through the files, looking for anything connected to that surname.

Jessie looked behind her at Paige and put the marker in Paige's hand. "Oh, it's my turn now?" she asked with a small laugh.

Paige took a sheet of paper and used the marker Jessie had given her to write out "Paige" across the top. She was hesitant to write her last name, unsure as to how much the girl was supposed to know about Graceland and who the agents were.

Jessie seemed satisfied with what Paige had written though, and then pointed at Johnny, who promptly wrote out his name and turned the paper around to show the girl.

Charlie brought four glasses of water over to the table and sat down next to Johnny. "I have an idea," Charlie said, passing giving each of them a glass. "How about we play a game?"

Jessie looked up at Paige and then nodded. "How about we all draw our house and our family?" Charlie asked the four of them.

"That's a great idea, Chuck," Johnny said, reaching for a new piece of paper.

Paige got Jessie and herself new paper and she managed to get Jessie off of her lap so that the girl was sitting next to her. Jessie sat up on her knees to get closer to the table.

The four of them began drawing, and even though Paige tried her best to not watch what Jessie was doing, she frequently peeked over at the girl's paper.

"Hey, Briggs, check this out," Mike said, taking out a folder from the box and laying it on the island in the kitchen. Mike knew better than to read what he had found out loud, so he pointed to show Briggs that it was labeled "Joseph Barone".

Jessie started looking around at Johnny, Paige, and Charlie's drawings. She pointed to Johnny's picture and then looked up at him.

"Those are my brothers," he said to her, "and that's my mom."

Jessie looked at the picture some more and pointed again to one person who was drawn towards the top of the page with the clouds. Johnny smiled at her. "That's my brother, Jacinto," he said, "He died when I was young, but he's still my family." She nodded and went back to coloring her picture.

Paige drew a big house with palm trees. In the front were her parents, herself and her younger brother. When Jessie saw that Paige was finished, she took some interest in it, pointing to the drawing of Paige and smiling. "Yep," Paige said, "that's me…and that's my little brother."

Paige slid Jessie's drawing closer to her. The house was two stories, with a small front door and maybe some kind of porch. There were two windows on each side of the door and a few windows on the second floor. Paige also noticed that most of the house was drawn with only a black marker.

"Good job, Jessie," Paige said encouragingly.

Paige pointed to a window on the picture she had drawn of her own old childhood home and said, "That was my room when I was a kid."

She looked over at Jessie's picture. "Can you point to your room?" The girl shook her head back and forth.

"No?" Paige asked. "Was it somewhere else in the house?"

Jessie put her head down on the table, resting her cheek on her forearm.

"That's ok," Paige said, trying to be positive. She reached out and gently rubbed her back. Paige saw that there were three stick-figure people drawn on Jessie's paper. "Is that you?" Paige asked, pointing to the person who was half the height of the other two. Jessie nodded.

Paige saw that one person had long hair, "Is that your mom?" Jessie nodded again.

"I like her pink dress," Charlie said, bringing attention to the fact that the only bright color she used on the whole page was for her mom.

"So, is that your dad?" Johnny asked, carefully pointing to the other person.

"Why is he standing further away?" Paige asked. Jessie shrugged her shoulders and kept her head on the table.

Paige pulled Jessie back up onto her lap and ran her fingers through the girl's hair. "Is the address of this house the one that's written on the box?" Paige asked gently. Paige was excited when Jessie nodded.

"My brother's friends used to come over a lot and they would leave their stuff at my house," Johnny said. Paige wasn't quite sure where he was going with his thought, but she caught on when he continued, asking, "Did your dad's friends leave a lot of their stuff at your house too?"

Jessie stayed close up against Paige, who could feel her tense at Johnny's question. Briggs and Mike were also listening.

Hoping to get some sort of a negative reaction, Briggs walked over to the table and pointed to Jessie's picture. "You know, we can bring you home soon if you want," he said with a friendly tone. Jessie looked up at him with teary eyes. He was hoping she would say something, but to his surprise she picked up her picture, and tore it in half with both hands.

Briggs sat down at the table right across from Jessie and she stared at him. "You never have to go to a place that isn't safe for you, okay?" he said. He pointed to the two halves of her picture, "Did bad guys work at this house?"

She nodded. "Did the bad guys ever hurt you?" he asked. She broke her eye contact with Briggs and dug her face back into Paige, wrapping her arms around the woman's back.

Mike walked over with a different folder. It was filled with photos of people who were arrested at the house and people who the FBI thought were involved with the case. He put his hand on Jessie's shoulder and moved his thumb back and forth to get her attention.

She was still clinging to Paige, but turned her head to look at him. Mike crouched down so that he was eye-level with her, "Do you want to help us catch the bad guys so they can't hurt people anymore?"

After a few seconds, a small smile was plastered on Jessie's face. "Yes," she whispered to him.


	9. Chapter 9

"Good girl," Mike said to Jessie, who was still clinging to Paige at the kitchen table. "I have a folder here that has some pictures of people in it." Jessie looked down at the folder to see what he was talking about.

"Would you be able to show us who out of these people are the really bad guys?" he asked.

She seemed a bit confused and didn't respond to his question. "What if we made piles?" Paige suggested, lifting Jessie off of her lap and onto the bench.

"Good idea, P," Johnny said, "you can put the pictures of bad guys in one pile, people you don't know in one pile, and good guys in a pile. Does that sound ok?" Jessie nodded, still staring at the folder.

Paige still seemed a little skeptical, but knew that any information they could get would be helpful in trying to find the Tinkerbells and uncover the bus scam.

Paige put her hand gently under Jessie's chin and moved the girl's head slightly so that they were making eye contact with one another. "If you don't want to look at the folder anymore, we can just stop, ok?" Paige said to her.

Charlie had taken 3 pieces of paper and had written labels on each of them. One said "bad guys", one said "good guys" and the other one had a question mark on it.

Mike put the folder down in front of Jessie and the five agents waited patiently.

Jessie opened the folder and saw a mug shot of an older Russian man. She studied it for a few seconds, picked it up, and then put it on top of the paper with the question mark. "Have you ever seen him before?" Paige asked her. Jessie shook her head.

Without any hesitation, Jessie picked up the next photo and placed it in the "bad guy" pile. Mike wanted to ask her more, but figured he should wait so she wouldn't get upset.

Jessie put the next three pictures in the "bad guy" pile and then studied the following picture for a few minutes. She looked up at Paige and then back down at the picture. "Do you know that man, sweetheart?" she asked her.

Jessie nodded and then put the picture down on the table in between the "good" and "bad" guy piles.

"Did he just do a little bad stuff?" Johnny asked with a small laugh. Jessie shook her head. "A lot of bad stuff?" Johnny asked. The girl nodded and looked up to Paige, "But he's nice," she whispered.

"Oh," Paige said, "so he did bad things, but he was nice to you?" Jessie nodded really big. The girl got up higher on her knees and leaned in to the side of Paige's head. "He brought me ice cream sometimes," she whispered with a smile.

"He did?!" Paige said excitedly. "Wow, he knew to bring you ice cream to the house? That is very nice."

Johnny made a note on the back of that picture that this man was aware there was a minor being mistreated at that address.

Jessie went through another few photos, two of which she added to the question mark pile. The "good guy" pile was still empty.

When Jessie saw the next picture, the agents knew that something was very wrong.

Jessie's breathing changed and she scrunched her eyes tight. She sat back and brought her knees up to her chest so that she was sitting tucked. Her hands were in little fists on either side of her face.

Paige turned to Mike. "Find out who the hell that is," she said, handing him the picture. Paige stood up and took Jessie into her arms. The girl's legs were still tucked up into her chest as Paige carried her into the living room.

Paige sat on the couch sideways with her back up against the armrest and her feet out on the cushions in front of her. She laid Jessie on her chest and kept her arms wrapped tightly around the girl. "He's not going to get you," Paige said to her. "He can't hurt you; I've got you; You're safe." She repeated the phrases, but Jessie still wouldn't relax or open her eyes.

Paige did everything in her power to try and get the girl to calm down. Mike walked in and Paige scooted in up against the back of the couch. It was a tight fit, but Mike sat right next to her so that they were side-by-side. Trying to show her that Mike was there too, Paige moved Jessie over a little so that she was resting up against both of them.

"You did a really good job," Mike said to the girl in a calm voice. "We want to make sure that the bad guys don't hurt anyone else, ok?"

There was still no reaction so Mike went over and got the blanket from the other side of the couch and covered the girls again.

Paige stayed like that for about thirty minutes. She couldn't tell if Jessie had been in and out of sleep, but she knew that the kid just needed some time.

Mike, Johnny, Briggs and Charlie were sorting through the other files and Jakes had made his way downstairs. He was quickly caught up on what had happened.

Paige felt Jessie kick her leg a little, so she started to rub circles on the girl's back.

"Do you know what makes me feel better after I feel scared or sad?" Paige asked her.

She knew that she wouldn't get a response. "I take a bath," Paige whispered, "it always helps me feel better."

Jessie snuggled her head into Paige more. "Would you like to go take a bath?" Paige asked, "and then we can put on some of the new clothes that Charlie and Paul got you…"

Jessie didn't nod, but she did open her eyes to look up at Paige.

"C'mon," Paige said, standing up with her, "let's get you all clean."


	10. Chapter 10

Jessie still held on tightly to Paige as they went back up the first set of stairs. There was a bathroom on the third floor, but the only tub was in the big bathroom that Paige used.

Paige stopped on the first landing and looked over to the kitchen. "Hey Charlie, could you bring a change of clothes for her to the bathroom?"

"Sure," Charlie said, walking over to the stairs. "We bought some kid-friendly shampoo and stuff too. I'll go get it."

The girls walked up the rest of the stairs together and Charlie continued passed Paige to go get the clothes out of Jessie's new room.

Paige managed to get the water running while still holding Jessie, checking to make sure that it wasn't too hot.

"Is it ok if I help you?" Paige asked her softly. There was no reaction, which Paige took as a yes.

Paige sat on her knees and tried to stand Jessie up in front of her, but the girl wasn't cooperating too well.

"I'm right here," Paige said to her. "You'll feel so much better."

Jessie took one of her hands and reached around behind her, tapping at her own back.

"Ohh," Paige said with a smile, "the water won't hurt your back. Let's take off the patches and we can have Mike put some new ones on when we're all done, ok?"

The girl nodded and allowed Paige to stand her up. Paige took off the girl's adult-sized shirt, which had gone all the way to her knees.

Jessie rested her head up against the front Paige's shoulder, and Paige did her best to quickly remove the medical tape and the gauze pads from the girl's back.

"Paige…" Charlie said. She walked into the bathroom with some clothes in one hand and some toiletries in the other. "Here's the shampoo, clean underwear, a shirt and shorts. I hope it fits."

"Thank you so much," Paige said to her. "Just set it by the sink." Jessie wouldn't look at Charlie. Despite knowing that Paige probably needed the help, Charlie went back downstairs so that she didn't scare the kid.

When Paige started to take off the girl's leggings, she could see some faded bruising on the sides of her thighs. It was obvious to Paige that Jessie hadn't changed out of those pants in a few days.

Jessie stepped out of the pants and underwear, and Paige gently lifted her over the side of the tub and sat her in the shallow water.

She put some liquid soap on a washcloth and started to gently scrub to try and get the dirt off of Jessie's face, arms, neck and chest. She put one hand behind the girl's head and dipped her back to get her hair wet.

She squeezed some of the shampoo into her hand and started to wash Jessie's hair. The entire time, the girl just stared at Paige.

After a minute or so, Paige lowered her back down again, holding her so that her face was out of the water, and used her other hand to get the shampoo out.

There was a knock on the wall outside the bathroom. "Can I come in?" Mike was standing in the doorway. Paige thought he looked nervous. "Yeah, what's going on?" she asked him.

"You…" Mike started, "the bureau wants to you to go with them on a raid to search potential holding locations for the tinker bells."

"Oh, that's great," Paige said with some excitement in her voice. Mike looked down at the floor and then up at her again. "They're expecting you over there in an hour."

Paige paused for a few seconds. "Come here," she said to him, "and bring the big towel." Mike grabbed a towel off of the shelf and walked over to the tub.

"Hey, Jessie," Paige said with a big smile, "I have to go to work so I can help some people who are in trouble." She kept her voice calm and positive. "Mike's going to help get you dressed and then you and Mike and Johnny and Paul and Charlie are going to decorate your new room and put all of your cool new toys and clothes away."

She could tell at this point that Jessie was fighting tears.

Mike took a step towards them. "And we're going to make a really cool surprise for Paige for when she gets back."

Paige looked up and smiled at Mike's comment. "A surprise for me?" she said with a gasp. She looked back over to Jessie, "I can't wait to see what it is. I'll be back really soon though, so you'll have to work quickly."

Paige looked at Mike as she stood up, questioning whether or not he would be able to handle the possible meltdown that was about to occur. "Do you want me to send Charlie up?" she asked him quietly. "Nah," Mike said, "she was the one who suggested I come up here."

Paige took a step passed him, but Mike grabbed her and spun her around so that they were face to face. He put his hands on her hips and pulled her close. They shared a kiss in their embrace.

"Be safe," Mike said to her. Paige let out a small laugh, "Good luck, Levi."

Paige looked down at Jessie, who was sitting in the tub with her hands gripping the side. "I will be back so soon," Paige said to her. "I can't wait to see the surprise." Paige quickly left the bathroom and ran down the stairs to find out more from Briggs.

Mike got down on his knees next to the tub, Jessie's eyes staring him down. He was afraid that the girl could tell he had no idea what he was doing. "Uh, did Paige get the soap out of your hair?" he asked her. She didn't respond to the question.

"Do you want to come out now?" Mike asked her. Mike took it as a yes when he saw her start to sit up on her knees. He grabbed the towel and uncapped the tub drain. Jessie put her hands on the side of the tub and stood up. Mike quickly draped the large towel over her shoulders and wrapped it around her.

The towel was almost down to her ankles, which caused it to get wet from the remaining water in the tub. Mike picked her up and tried to put her down on the bathmat, but Jessie clung to him and rested her head on his shoulder.

He sat on the side of the tub and just held her for a few minutes. "I didn't mean for the pictures in the folder to make you afraid," he said to her. "You did a great job helping us." She looked up at him. "Let's get you dressed, ok?"

He took the shirt that Charlie had gotten when she went shopping and helped Jessie put it on. He put the towel off to the side and got her to step in to the underwear and shorts.

He wasn't sure if he was supposed to use a hair dryer or not, so he just used the towel to try and squeeze some of the water out of her hair. Mike noticed that there was also a small pink hairbrush along with a rolled pair of socks on the counter. He handed her the brush. "I think this is for you." He was relieved when she started to brush her own hair.

He sat her up on the counter and put the socks on her feet. She handed him the hairbrush when she was finished with it, and he put it on the bathroom shelf with some of the other house toiletries. "We will put more burn cream on your back in a little while, ok?" Jessie nodded.

He put his hands out in front of her and she leaned into him, telling him that she wanted to be carried. "Are you ready to go see your room?" Mike asked. "We have to go set up the surprise."

Jessie nodded and Mike headed upstairs to the third floor, trying to tell himself that she was more nervous than he was about having lost Paige for the afternoon.


	11. Chapter 11

Mike climbed up the stairs with Jessie in his arms. He could tell she was nervous because her head was buried in his neck and her hands were clasped tightly onto a piece of his shirt. He figured she was probably still worked up about seeing the photos too.

When they got to her new bedroom, Mike knocked twice on the door before slowly opening it.

Charlie was making the bed. The room had a full size bed in it from when Lauren was there, but Mike smiled when he saw the pink and purple bedding.

"Hey, Mikey," Charlie said when she saw him.

"Mikey, Mike!" Mike turned around to see Johnny sitting in an over-sized beanbag chair in the corner. He was organizing books and some toys onto one of the shelves in the room.

Mike felt Jessie's grip get a bit stronger. "Shhh," he whispered down to her, "you're ok. Do you want to see your new room?" Jessie kept her head down. "Come on," Mike said bouncing her a little, "we have to set up the surprise for Paige!"

Jessie opened her eyes and looked up at him, still keeping her body small in his arms. "A surprise?!" Johnny said, trying to be excited. "Yep," Mike said, "when Paige gets home she's going to be so happy to see your room all finished… and then we're going to bake her favorite cookies." He whispered the last part.

Jessie smiled at Mike and started to look around the room. She saw some shopping bags and liked the bright colors on the walls. Mike noticed that she seemed to be most interested in Johnny, or rather, what Johnny had in his hands.

"Do you want to go read a book?" Mike whispered to her. Jessie nodded and let Mike put her down. She cautiously walked over to Johnny, who was holding three of the books. They were picture books, but they had a decent amount of text as well.

Johnny scooted over on the beanbag and tapped the space next to him. Jessie gently sat on the chair and took one of the books that Johnny held out in front of her.

"Do you wanna read it together?" Johnny asked her. Jessie looked over at him for a few seconds before nodding her head.

Johnny took a risk and slid a little bit closer to her; he put one hand on the book and they opened it together. "So do you want me to read, or do you wanna read?" he asked her. Jessie pointed to herself. "Ok then," Johnny said leaning back, "take it away smarty…"

Jessie turned to the first page of the book. She looked over the spread, reading it to herself, and then went to turn the page. "Whoa, whoa, whoa," Johnny said stopping her, "you said you were gonna read it to me!"

Jessie smiled at him.

"You're not gonna read it?" Johnny said with a pout on his face.

Jessie softly laughed to herself. Johnny crossed his arms in front of his chest, "Are you laughing at me because I can't read?!"

He thought he heard the girl whisper something.

"What did you say about me?" Johnny said, trying to sound tough. She smiled at him and went back to reading.

"Oh nuh uh… no way, girlfriend. What did you say?" Johnny was laughing now too. He reached out and started tickling her sides and her belly, "what did you say?"

Jessie was squirming with a huge smile. She didn't let go of the book and tucked her elbows in, trying to keep his hands away from her. Her laughter was getting louder until she finally caved. "You can read!" she said laughing.

Mike and Charlie had stopped what they were doing and were sitting next to each other on the bed to watch the scene unfold.

"Ok ok, you caught me," Johnny said throwing his hands up, "how about we take turns reading?" Jessie contemplated the idea for a moment before nodding. "Ok," she said to him.

Johnny started to read the first page out loud and Jessie rested her head up against his shoulder. Johnny couldn't wipe the grin off his face if he tried.

Charlie gestured to Mike for them to head back over to the closet, where she handed him a small stack of shirts and told him to start hanging them up. "Briggs is on the phone with downtown trying to get IDs on the men she recognized," Charlie said to him quietly, "and Jakes went with Paige as backup."

Mike wasn't paying attention to Charlie because he heard a little voice behind him. He turned around to see Jessie reading to Johnny. Her voice was barely audible, but he could tell that her confidence in the house had soared since she first got there earlier that day. He couldn't help to think that his success with Jessie might score him some points with Paige too.

"Do you know where they were going?" Mike asked Charlie.

"Interrogating somebody who owned a massage shop; they think one of the girls may have worked there for a short time."

Mike nodded, "Do you think any of the girls would have been brought to _that _address?" He gestured with his head towards Jessie.

Charlie shrugged her shoulders. "We can ask her… maybe draw a picture of a pink backpack and see how she reacts…? I don't want to scare her again."

Mike agreed. "We'll wait for Paige," he said.

Johnny was clapping his hands; they had finished the book. "Yo, Mikey, jokes aside, I think she reads better than me," Johnny said playfully.

Mike looked down at the girl and got her attention, "Do you want to put more medicine on your back before you read another?" He spoke with a calm, steady voice.

Jessie nodded, but kept her head up against the side of Johnny's shoulder.

"Ok, I'll be right back." Mike quickly made his way down the two flights of stairs for the burn cream and the other supplies. When he got back to the room, he saw that Jessie had arranged the pile of books by height on the shelf. Johnny was still enjoying the comfort of the beanbag and shook his head with a smirk on his face while he watched the girl organize.

When Jessie saw that Mike had come back she went over to him and wrapped her arms around his leg. He walked over to the bed and she tailed him.

Mike sat down on the edge of the bed. "Do you want Johnny to hold you or do you want to sit by yourself?" he asked her.

"Johnny," she whispered up to him. Mike put the supplies on the bed and squatted down in front of her to help her remove the t-shirt.

Johnny walked over to them. Jessie scrunched her eyes tight when Mike picked her up and handed her to Johnny. "Oooh that's a good hug," Johnny said with a laugh when he felt her little grip tighten around his neck. He sat facing Mike on the bed and tried to see for himself what those shitheads had done to this kid.

When she heard Mike tear open the gauze pad pack, her whole body tensed. "Hey shhh," he said soothingly, "no stinging this time." He put the burn cream on one of the marks to show her that it wasn't going to hurt. She relaxed almost instantly, just like last time.

Even Johnny could feel the drop in her stress level. He ran his hand across the back of her head a few times.

Mike finished applying the cream and covering the spots with the new gauze and tape. Charlie moved herself so that she was sitting with them on the bed too. Mike pointed out the bruising to her and she took a breath.

Charlie reached out and gingerly pressed two of her fingers up against one of the bruises near her ribs, "Does this hurt, sweetheart?" Jessie didn't respond, but Mike assumed that her grip on Johnny tightened because Johnny was nodding his head as if to say "yes" for her.

"Does it hurt when you breathe?" Charlie asked her. Jessie shook her head into Johnny's shoulder. "No? Ok," Charlie said to her, "but let us know if your chest or tummy hurts."

Charlie took Mike's hand and showed him that the four small bruises by her ribcage matched the spacing of a person's handprint. It appeared as if someone had pressed their fingertips into her when they grabbed her side.

Mike gently pulled her away from Johnny a bit and saw one small bruise on the front of her ribcage. "That would be the guy's thumb," Charlie said to him.

Johnny gently wrapped his hand around Jessie's side and sure enough, his five fingers lined up almost perfectly with the five bruises.

Johnny leaned back to make eye contact with the girl, "So I have a really important question for you…" he said with a serious tone. She looked up at him. "What kind of cookies do you want to go make?"


	12. Chapter 12

Jessie stared at Johnny with some confusion.

"Have you ever made cookies before?" Charlie asked her.

Mike handed Jessie's t-shirt to Johnny, who helped her put it back on.

Jessie shook her head. "No?!" Johnny said to her, playfully looking shocked.

"Well, I thought we could make some for Paige," Mike said, "and her favorite kind is chocolate chip. Does that sound good to you?"

"Not so fast - none of you are turning the kitchen into a mess," Charlie said. "If you are capable of making cookies, you're capable of cleaning up."

"You're just bitter, Chuck, because it's your week on the chore wheel…" Johnny said with a grin on his face.

Charlie took one of the small pillows on the bed and lightly tapped Johnny on the head with it. He dramatically fell backwards on the bed as if he had been attacked.

Still sitting in Johnny's lap, Jessie's giggled at Johnny's behavior.

"Come on," Mike said to them. He lifted Jessie up, being careful not to grab where she was hurt and made his way down both flights of stairs back to the main floor.

Jessie stayed tucked in Mike's arms with Johnny and Charlie following behind. Charlie started gathering some bowls and measuring cups when they got to the kitchen. Mike put Jessie up on the island and she sat cross-legged watching their every move.

Johnny brought over butter, flour, sugar, eggs and other ingredients from the cabinets and the fridge. Charlie got the remaining PediaSure drink out of the fridge as well, which she put down in front of Jessie.

"Do you think you can finish this before Paige gets home?" she asked her. Jessie nodded and uncapped the shake, taking a big sip.

"Ok," Charlie said with a clap of her hands wanting to get started on the cookies. She added the wet ingredients into a bowl and let Jessie help her mix everything together. Mike admired the scene and was grateful that Charlie was helping him out with the surprise. He took a few steps towards Briggs when he was confident that Charlie and Johnny were keeping Jessie occupied.

Briggs ended his phone conversation and looked over at Mike, walking towards the agent. "The bureau wants more info on the guy in that photo," Briggs said to him quietly. "They know he's a big player with Solano, but they haven't been able to track him."

Mike looked over to Jessie and he was happy to see that she was still smiling. Johnny was trying to flick the flour he had on his fingers at Charlie. "We need to wait for Paige before questioning Jessie," Mike said to Briggs. "She's hurt and malnourished," he said to him shaking his head, "I don't want to put her through that stress again."

"I know, Mike. I know," Briggs said to him looking down at the floor, "but if she knows how these buses work, or how they connect to the girls… we can block the corridor."

Mike nodded, still unsure how to go about questioning Jessie. He'd never had to coax a CI to give up information before.

Briggs knew he was hesitant, "Just keep gaining her trust, Levi. She'll open up about it."

When Briggs and Mike walked up to the island Johnny and Jessie were scooping up dough balls with their hands and arranging them on the cookie sheet. Charlie had already started to arrange the dirty dishes and bowls in the sink.

When the cookie sheet was full, there was still a little piece of dough left in the bowl. Johnny handed it to Jessie, "Eat it," he told her, "it's really good."

Jessie took the piece of dough from Johnny, and after thinking it over for a few seconds, she took a bite out of it.

"Delicious, right?" Johnny said with a smile. Charlie looked over to them, "Raw dough? Really?" She wasn't pleased, "What happened to following good nutrition around here?"

Johnny handed Jessie the PediaSure and made sure she drank another few ounces.

"Happy, Chuck?" he said to her with a smile.

She rolled her eyes at him and picked up the cookie sheet. "So these go in the oven, and in ten minutes we'll take them out and then they will be cookies," she explained to Jessie.

Briggs' phone started ringing and Jessie shifted away from the noise. Realizing that Mike was behind her, she leaned back so that she was resting her head on his chest.

Briggs was still in earshot of everyone when he was on the phone, and Mike didn't want Jessie to overhear anything that might make her upset.

Johnny had a similar concern. "So what's your favorite movie?" he asked her.

Jessie just shrugged her shoulders. "Do you watch a lot of tv?" he asked her. She shook her head.

"Ok," Johnny said, "because I saw that Paul and Charlie bought one of my favorite movies for us to watch…."

Jessie twisted around and put her hands out towards Mike, who carefully picked her up. Mike noticed that she was still paying attention to Briggs' phone call, so he moved away from him followed Johnny into the living room.

"Have you ever seen Frozen?" Johnny asked her. Jessie shook her head.

"No?" Johnny said, "It's practically a requirement for kids your age."

Mike sat on the couch, keeping Jessie in his lap, and looked down at her, "Do you want to watch the movie?"

Jessie nodded, but her eyes were still tracking Briggs.

Johnny took out the movie and handed the case to Jessie for her to look at while he got it started.

He was putting the DVD in the player when Briggs came over to them in the living room. He sat down next to Mike and Jessie. "So I know that you understand we are trying to stop the bad guys who hurt you," Briggs said to her, "but have you ever heard of the FBI before?"

Jessie looked up at Mike and then nodded cautiously. "You have?" Briggs asked her with a bit of excitement. "Who taught you about the FBI?" He was trying to keep his voice positive.

Jessie laid her head up against Mike's chest and shrugged her shoulders. She was gripping the case tightly.

Mike looked down at her, "Did your dad ever talk about the FBI?" he asked her quietly.

Jessie nodded. "They came to my house," she whispered to Mike and Briggs. Johnny was sitting at the other end of the couch too, listening intently.

"Last night, right?" Briggs said, "The good guys came and got you?"

Jessie squinted her eyes at him before nodding once.

"Did you know about the FBI before last night?" Briggs asked her.

She took a deep breath, "We have to hide from them," she said, burying her face into Mike's chest.

"Who has to hide?" Mike said, rubbing his hand up and down her arm.

"Did your dad tell you to hide from the FBI?" Johnny asked her.

Jessie didn't respond right away, keeping her eyes hidden from Briggs.

"The policemen don't like them either…" Jessie whispered.

"The police?" Mike said puzzled. He and Briggs shared a glance. "The police and the FBI are friends…" Briggs said to her, nodding his head.

"No," Jessie said. She let go of the movie case with one hand and took hold of Mike's shirt with her little fist. "The police are bad guys."

"Bad guys?" Briggs said to her, throwing a confused look to Mike, who raised his eyebrows and shook his head.

"Are they bad guys because they would have gotten your house and your dad in trouble?" Mike asked her.

"No," Jessie said with a little more confidence. She looked up right at Mike, "They help him."


	13. Chapter 13

Jessie knew that Briggs and Mike weren't getting it. She slowly slid off Mike's lap and looked into the kitchen. Mike, Briggs, and Johnny watched her, all curious as to what she was thinking.

Jessie reached out behind her and took Mike's hand in hers, tugging at his fingers. "You want me to go in the kitchen with you?" Jessie nodded and Mike got off the couch to follow her. Briggs and Johnny went too.

Jessie saw that the file box was still over on the table and she sat in front of it on the bench. She let go of Mike's hand and sat up on her knees so that she could see the contents of the box. "Do you want the folder from before?" Mike asked her quietly.

Jessie nodded and Mike pulled the first file out of the box, laying it on the table in front of her. She just stared at the folder. Briggs sat down across from her and Mike kept a hand on her shoulder. "His picture's not in there," Briggs said to her, "we took it out." Jessie squinted her eyes at him and then looked over to the markers and paper. "Do you want to draw?" Mike asked her. She nodded.

Briggs handed her some coloring supplies and Jessie put the paper next to the folder. She looked up at Mike and then opened the file. She carefully flipped through the pages until she got to a photo of a middle-aged white man in a baseball cap. "Who is that, sweetheart?" Briggs asked, "Can you write down his name for me?"

Jessie looked down at the picture, "He calls him 'The Rat'," she whispered, "he gets mad when the police yell at him."

"Who calls him that?" Briggs asked her, "Your dad?"

Jessie nodded and started to draw with the black marker. "Him and Top," she said casually.

"Lil' Top?" Briggs asked her, "Did he get in trouble with the FBI a little while ago?"

Jessie shook her head and kept drawing, switched the black marker out for a yellow.

"Not FBI," she whispered matter-of-factly.

"Was it the DEA?" Mike asked her with a small laugh; she was definitely attentive.

Jessie nodded and looked at the picture. "He wears letters…" she said to herself.

Mike squatted down next to her, "Who are you drawing?"

Jessie didn't respond, but Mike watched her as she clearly wrote the letters: L-A-P-D across the man in the drawing's chest. Jessie looked at Mike, "He always wears the same shirt," she said, "he even has it on his car."

"Paul," Charlie said over to the table, "go find out who from the LAPD was on that house raid two nights ago. Whoever it was did a cover-up and knew to leave something behind." Charlie nodded her head towards Jessie, referring to her as the "something".

Briggs took a few files out of the box and went upstairs with his phone in his hand. Johnny took his place at the table and started to look through the box himself.

Mike pointed to the drawing of the cop, "What was his name?"

Jessie's eyes got watery fast and her breathing became audible.

"Oh, you're ok," Mike said, gingerly scooping her up into his arms. "Do you know his name?" he whispered to her. He hated to keep pushing, but he knew she was smart enough to keep up with this intel.

Jessie shook her head, "They just…" she started.

"They just what?" Mike asked softly, wiping a small tear off of her cheek. "They just call him 'The Cop'," she mumbled.

Mike made circles on her back with his hand the way he had seen Paige calm her down before.

"Does the rat get mad when this cop yells at him?" Mike asked, trying to put the pieces together. She was trying so hard to tell them the story and Mike's heart was breaking that she just couldn't get it out.

Jessie nodded into his shoulder, "The rat made mistakes and the cop got scared and yelled a lot."

"Oh, ok," Mike said to her with a positive tone, still rubbing circles on her back. He made a mental note to ask more about those "mistakes" later.

Johnny made eye contact with Mike. "So are we thinking that LAPD has a guy protecting… uh, you-know-who," Johnny pointed to the name 'Solano' on the box, "so that nothing gets back to anyone about the buses?" He tapped his fingers on the table. "And, this guy," Johnny said pointing to the photograph of the man in the cap, "is the link between the cartel and the corrupt LAPD, who hides intel from the actual LAPD?"

"And not just LAPD," Charlie added, "he could be lying to FBI, DEA and ICE to protect those shipments."

Johnny put one of the files down on the table, "Hey, Jessie," he said quietly, "was the cop at your house when the FBI came to get all the bad guys two nights ago?"

Jessie nodded, but she looked up to Mike, "He helped them take the bad guys, but he is a bad guy."

Mike held her close. "Why…?" Mike didn't quite know how to best phrase the question, "Why do you think the cop didn't take you with the other bad guys?"

Mike was shocked when Jessie smiled at him. "I always hide," she said.

"So he doesn't know that you lived there?" Johnny asked her with a big grin on his face. She shook her head.

"Oh, girl," Johnny said shaking his head in disbelief, "you are so smart. Who taught you how to be so smart?"

He meant it as a funny comment and was relieved that this corrupt LAPD officer wasn't the one to pick her up from the house, but the girl mumbled something into Mike's shoulder.

Mike looked over at Charlie with big eyes. "What was her name?" Mike asked Jessie.

"Katia," Jessie whispered. Mike's heart was racing.

"Katia made you smart and told you to hide from him?" Mike asked. Jessie nodded. "Is she your sister?" Mike asked on purpose, knowing very well that she wasn't.

Jessie looked up him, "No," she said. Mike took a risk, "So where did Katia come from?" he asked her.

Jessie wiggled out of his arms and Mike put her back down on the bench. Mike, Johnny and Charlie watched as Jessie drew a large horizontal rectangle with four circles along the bottom.

"Is that a bus?" Mike asked her. Jessie nodded and kept going.

She drew a stick figure standing next to the rectangle and she gave the stick figure long hair. She picked up the pink marker and scribbled some marks that connected to the stick figure's hand.

Charlie's jaw dropped. Jessie picked up the black marker again and wrote "118" in the rectangle.

"That's Katia?" Mike asked her. Jessie nodded. "Do you know where she is?" he asked.

Jessie looked down at her lap. "The picture Paige gave you," she whispered.

Mike scooped her back up in a hug. He remembered how much even seeing a photo of that man made her scared and he wanted to try and prevent another anxiety attack. "Do you want to go watch the movie with Johnny now?" Mike asked her. Jessie picked her head up and nodded. Mike let Johnny take her from his arms and she wrapped herself tightly around him. "I love these hugs," he said playfully.

"I'm going to go catch Briggs up and then make some calls to the bureau," Mike said to Johnny and Charlie.

Johnny went into the living room, bouncing Jessie in his arms, "You are going to love Frozen!"

"She's from SoCal, Johnny boy!" Charlie yelled after him, "She doesn't even know what snow is!"


	14. Chapter 14

Johnny had already put the DVD in the player before they had followed her into the kitchen, so all he had to do was click a button on the remote for it to start the movie.

Jessie was still holding onto him when he sat back on the couch, lifting his feet onto the coffee table.

When Jessie heard the movie starting she slowly eased up on her grip and fell to the side of him on the couch. She rested her head on the side of his arm and kept her hand tucked under his elbow.

Briggs came back down the stairs and smiled at the two of them, "Ohh Frozen," he said, pretending to be excited for Jessie. "It's an epic story, Briggs," Johnny said laughing. Jessie jumped a little at his loud voice, so Johnny wrapped his arm around her, getting her to snuggle into him a bit more.

Briggs walked over to Charlie in the kitchen. "She knows, Paul," Charlie said, handing him the drawing of one of the girls on bus 118, "she knows."

Briggs held the picture and shook his head. "Is this someone specific?" he asked, pointing to the stick figure.

"Yeah, her name is Katia," she said, "Mikey and I are thinking that this girl was pulled to be her babysitter or something. I mean, I hope the kid doesn't understand what trafficking is, but she definitely knew something was wrong with how this woman got here."

Briggs nodded and sharply exhaled, "HQ is looking into the LAPD officers who were assigned to back up the raid… and I sent the picture of the guy she calls 'the rat'; they said they would call back when they had an ID."

"What else did they say, Paul?" she asked him, continuing to put away dishes. "They want more info on her father." He took a breath, "They're pushing to know if Joseph Barone is really her father, or if it is just an uncle or something I guess. They need to know who had legal custody so they can arrange charges and get all this paperwork sorted."

Charlie shook her head and grinned, "So what?" she said sarcastically, "are we supposed to bring her down to booking for a paternity test?" She laughed at her own comment.

"Not quite, Chuck," he said, "But they think one of the guys they took into custody from the house is Joseph Barone and they did request that we send them a blood sample." He raised his eyebrows at her and shrugged his shoulders.

"We're waiting for Paige," she said, taking the cookies out of the oven.

"Oh, I know," he said. Briggs looked back into the living room, admiring how peaceful Johnny and Jessie looked watching the cartoon.

"Go talk to Mikey and see what he has to say about this Katia thing," she said to him. He leaned in softly kissed her cheek. "And have you heard from Jakes or Paige yet?" she asked him quietly. "Nope," he said, "they're fine. What's for dinner?"

She swatted her hand at him and he turned and headed back upstairs to collaborate with Mike.

Charlie figured that Briggs was right; they should have a family meal for dinner. She thought about what the boys had gotten at the grocery store earlier that day and started to pull some stuff out of the refrigerator and freezer. She couldn't stop herself from humming some of the music from the movie as she worked.

Charlie had been going through files in the kitchen and cutting up vegetables for almost an hour when she heard Johnny's voice. She walked into the living room and saw Johnny trying to wake up Jessie.

"She's having a nightmare, Chuck," he said, "She's still holding on to me, but she's losing it. Are you supposed to wake her up? I feel like I read something that said—"

"Johnny that 's sleepwalking…" she said, "you can't knock her out of it?"

Her feet were kicking and it looked as though all of her muscles in her upper body were tense. Her eyes were scrunched tight and her breathing was heavy. "I'm going to go get Mike," Charlie said, quickly moving up the steps.

Johnny kept trying to wake her up. He stood up and held her close in his arms. He had started to walk around with her when she finally became still. Her eyes opened and Johnny could tell that she was confused and she started crying softly.

"Hi," he said with a big smile, "you fell asleep duirng our movie!"

Jessie caught Mike coming down the stairs out of the corner of her eye and put her hands out towards him like she had done before. He stole her from Johnny and sat on the couch with her, again trying to mimic how Paige was able to keep her calm.

"What made you so scared?" Mike whispered to her. He wasn't sure himself whether or not he was being rhetorical.

Jessie kept crying and had both of her hands clasped in fists around pieces of his shirt.

"Is it your dad who makes you scared when you sleep?" He didn't get a response. "Or is it the LAPD cop, or someone else?" He partially wanted to know for his case, but he also just wanted to know how to help her. The past two times she woke up from a nightmare, he was useless.

Jessie shook her head into his chest. "No?" Mike asked with a positive tone of voice, "Then what makes you so scared when you sleep?"

"Being stuck…." Her breathing was sporadic and she couldn't get out more than a few whispered words at a time.

"Being stuck where?" Mike asked her patiently. He tried to sit her up a little so that he could see her face.

She sniffled a few times, but rather than look up at him, she kept her head buried. "Stuck in -" she stuttered, "in the closet." Mike and Johnny exchanged some confused glances.

There was a loud slam noise and Mike felt Jessie's arms and body tense up against him.

"Hello?!"

It was Paige. Mike was relieved to see that Paige was back and he was eager to fill her in and to see what she had uncovered, but he also knew that a terrified version of Jessie in his lap was not making his caretaking skills look good.

"Hey," Mike said to Jessie, rubbing her back, "look who's home."

"Hey, Jessie," Paige said, sitting down next to Mike.

That was all it took. As soon as Jessie heard Paige's voice, she reached out and clung to the woman. Mike and Paige sat close while they both continued to console her.

"Was the closet in your old house?" Mike asked her. Paige looked at him with a puzzled expression. Mike thought about what to say. "We got upset when we were sleeping because of a closet," he said matter-of-factly. Paige nodded but didn't look any less confused.

"Jakes and I barely got anything today," she said to him, "how about here?"

Mike smiled, "She's the best little C.I. we've got."

She wanted to kiss him in that moment on the couch, but knew that announcing their relationship in front of Jakes, Johnny and Charlie right there in the living room would not be the best plan.


	15. Chapter 15

"Do you want to go show Paige the surprise up in your room?" Mike asked Jessie. He was still right next to Paige on the couch. Jessie nodded and started to shift off of Paige's lap.

She stood up and tugged at Paige's hand to get her to follow her upstairs. Jessie took one step, but hesitated before continuing to walk. She turned around and grabbed a few of Mike's fingers with her other hand before leading them out of the living room.

They climbed up two flights and Mike gently pushed open the door to Jessie's room. "Wow, Jessie," Paige said with a big smile. "Look at how cool your new room is!"

Jessie let go of their hands and quickly walked over to the beanbag. She fell backwards into it and smiled.

Mike grabbed both of Paige's hands and stood in front of her, his back to Jessie. He took a breath and whispered, "I'll explain later, but the short of it is that LAPD has a mole to protect Solano and one of the tinker bells lived with her for a while – the scary guy in the mug shot came for her apparently."

Paige peered over at Jessie. "Hey sweetheart, come here." She put her hands out and Jessie ran over to her, grabbing onto Paige's shoulders as she lifted her up.

Paige walked around to the side of the bed and sat on top of the comforter. She sat Jessie in front of her and Mike climbed up onto the bed to join them. The three of them were sitting in a small circle.

"So Jessie," Mike began, "can you tell Paige about Katia?"

She nodded, but didn't look up.

"She came off of the bus, right?" Mike asked, trying to provoke some intel.

Jessie nodded again. "She was my friend," she said simply.

"What kinds of things did you do together?" Paige asked her.

"We practiced English together," Jessie explained, "and she took care of me and hid me when new guys came over."

"Is that how you learned to read and write so well?" Mike asked.

"Yeah," Jessie said quietly, "we learned together."

"Do you know when Katia left?" Mike asked.

Jessie's eyes were getting watery. "During the storm," she said.

"A storm?" Paige said to herself. Mike looked at Jessie. "You mean the thunderstorm we had last week?"

She nodded and moved closer to Paige so that she could lean up against her.

"Do you know where he took her?" Paige asked cautiously.

"H-he was ye-yelling about a warehouse," Jessie said softly. "I didn't want her to go. I got in trouble."

"Of course you would be sad," Mike said to her, "but why did you get in trouble?"

"I cried when she had to go in the van," Jessie said frankly, "so he-he … he was smoking."

"Is that how you got the burns?" Mike asked her. Jessie nodded and snuggled into Paige.

"S-she was hol-holding m-me and he pu-pulled m-me off." Her grip on Paige was fierce.

Mike gently ran his hand over the back of the girl's head. "If you can tell us his name, we can help the FBI find him," Mike said to her.

Jessie looked over at him. "I don't know it," she said crying.

"Where was your dad when this happened, Jessie?" Paige asked her, kissing the top of her head.

"H-he w-went to the bus," she said.

Mike looked up at Paige with excitement in his eyes. "What does he get from the bus?" he asked her.

Jessie buried her face into Paige's shoulder. "Does he get something off the bus?" Paige whispered.

After a few moments, Jessie nodded. "The barrels," she whispered.

Paige looked up and saw Briggs leaning up against the doorway with his arms crossed in front of his chest. "Dinner's ready when you guys are," he said to them.

Jessie shot a look over to the door when she heard the new voice. "Hey there," Briggs said smiling to her. "Don't forget that we have another surprise for Paige…"

Jessie remembered about the chocolate chip cookies and smiled at the boys.

"Another surprise?" Paige asked with excitement. She gently tickled Jessie to get her to ease up on her grip. "Let's go see!"

Paige lifted Jessie into her arms and went down stairs to the kitchen. Mike and Briggs hung back a bit; Paige assumed they were sharing updates on the case with one another.

Charlie, Jakes and Johnny were standing around the kitchen island. "Come make some tacos, P!" Johnny yelled over to her. "Do you like tacos?" Paige asked Jessie. She shrugged her shoulders.

Paige got two plates out of the kitchen cabinet and walked around the island to the bar stools. "Can you sit up here for a second?" she asked Jessie, putting her down on the stool.

Paige placed two taco shells on each plate and added the meat and toppings. "Wait," Paige said looking at Jessie, "is this the surprise?"

Jessie shook her head and pointed to the plate at the other end of the island.

Paige gasped and smiled. "Cookies?!"

Jessie nodded. "Charlie and Johnny helped me."

"I'm very impressed," Paige said smiling. She reached over to grab one, but Charlie swatted her hand away. "Later," she said to Paige.

Jakes was walking away with his plate and Paige saw that they had set the dining room table. "Ooh, fancy," she said laughing.

Paige picked up the two plates of food and took a step away from the island, gesturing for Jessie to follow.

Jessie looked down at the floor and seemed hesitant to jump off the stool. Seeing that Paige's hands were full, Johnny put his plate down for a second and picked Jessie up over his head to sit her on his shoulders. She giggled. He picked up his plate, and Paige followed them over to the dining room table.

Mike and Briggs made an appearance in the kitchen, and within a few minutes, all seven of them were seated at the table together. Jessie started eating after she saw how the others ate the tacos.

Johnny watched her and started laughing. "Tacos may not have been the smartest choice, Chuck," he said.

They looked over at Jessie. The taco had completely crumbled all over the plate and her hands were covered with sour cream and pieces of shredded cheese. Paige wiped the her hands off with a napkin and Johnny handed her a fork. "How do feel about taco salad?" he asked smiling.

Even Jakes had laughed at Johnny's comment.

When everyone went back to eating, there was a bit of an awkward silence.

"So did you like Frozen?" Johnny asked her. "We didn't get to talk about it – and we still gotta watch the end!"

Jessie nodded. "Olaf."

"You like Olaf?" Johnny asked. "See, Chuck, the kid likes snow," he said looking at Charlie.

"He's like you," Jessie said quietly to her plate.

"What?!" Johnny said throwing his head back. "I am like Olaf?"

Jessie smiled at him and nodded. Johnny lifted his chin up and sat up tall, "I'll take that as a compliment."

"I don't know what an Olaf is," Jakes said, "but she's probably right, John boy."

Briggs started to stand up from the table. "I don't know about you guys, but I really want some of those cookies."

"Uhh, not so fast, Paul," Charlie said to him. "Nobody touches them until you help me clean."

Jessie, taking Charlie's words seriously, carefully placed her fork and napkin on top of her plate. She stood up, pushed her chair in, and started to carry the plate back into the kitchen taking small steps.

Mike watched her and shook his head. "She is something else."


	16. Chapter 16

Paige followed Jessie into the kitchen, carrying her plate and some other items from the table. She smiled as she watched the girl stretch her arms up to place the plate on the counter. Paige put what she was carrying in the sink and then sat Jessie up on the island.

Paige reached behind the girl and stole two cookies from the tray. She handed one to Jessie and they both took a big bite.

"Hey, hey," Johnny said trotting over to them with his own dirty plate, "save some for me." He took a cookie and ate it dramatically, causing Jessie to giggle at him.

Paige noticed that Briggs and Mike were back in a heated discussion as they cleared the table.

Jakes followed behind Charlie into the kitchen. "Just put it all in the sink," she said to them.

Paige looked over to the dining room and saw Mike nod before looking over at her. She could tell that he won whatever debate he had been having with Paul.

"Charlie, do you think we can put the kitchen on hold for a little while?" Mike said for everyone to hear. "Can we have a house meeting?"

No one moved at first, but Charlie picked up the tray of cookies and started walking to the living room, using them as bait to gather everyone together. Johnny followed behind her, and after a minute or so, all of the agents had made it over to the L-shaped couch in the living room. Jessie was situated on Paige's lap, listening intently to the agents' conversation.

Briggs stood in front of the group. "So we only have two weeks to take down…" he glanced at Jessie and then looked at Mike, "you sure?" he asked Mike quietly.

Mike nodded. "She's ok," Mike said. "She'll get it."

"Two weeks to take down Carlito Solano," he continued. Paige could feel Jessie shift when she heard his name, but if anything, her focus on Briggs intensified. "We know that Bus 118 comes into the bay for an extended period and that the contraband is left in barrels until there is a pick-up after hours. We know that the tinker bells come in on 118, but from there we haven't tracked them to a location."

"Do we have the schedule for the next shipment?" Charlie asked, "Can't we just beat the bus to the transfer station and follow the next tinker bell?"

"Yeah we're working on the TAC team for the bus tail," Mike said.

"And Jakes," Briggs said, cutting Mike off and handing Dale a folder, "has an interview tomorrow at the garage to get the schedule."

"Why?" The voice was so little that Briggs barely heard the question.

"Why what, sweetheart?" Paige asked her.

"You're the good guys," she said with her head down. "Stop the bus."

Maybe it was speaking in front of everyone that made her nervous, or maybe it was the way that she challenged Paul's plan, but Jessie turned and laid her head up against Paige's chest, who welcomed the kid with open arms.

"That is a great plan," Paige said to her, "but, if we stop the next bus, we can't catch any bad guys except the bus driver. We need to make the rest of the bad guys do something that will get them in trouble."

"Do you know what 'undercover' is?" Briggs asked her. Jessie slowly looked over at him and shook her head.

"It means that we play pretend and make friends with the bad guys so that we can catch them and get them in trouble. So if Jakes works at the bus garage, he can see who comes to get the barrels and who helps Carlito. That way, we know who to put in jail and we make sure we get everybody."

Jessie nodded at him, but her eyes were pensive. "Are you going to put my dad in jail?"

The words were spoken simply and without too much emotion.

Paige rubbed Jessie's back and held onto her. Briggs was contemplating an answer. "Do you want him to go to jail?" he asked probing.

Jessie thought about it and then shrugged her shoulders. "Is he in jail now?" she asked. Her voice broke a little this time.

"I don't know, kiddo," he said to her, "a lot of the guys who were taken aren't telling the FBI a lot about themselves…"

Jessie put her head back down on Paige's chest and snuggled into the woman's embrace around her.

Sensing that Jessie's anxiety may be limiting the group's conversation, Paige stood up with her, took another cookie off of the plate on the coffee table, and walked into the kitchen. "Come on, let's go clean up dinner for Charlie."

Paige sat Jessie up on the counter next to the sink and handed her a towel. "Can you dry the plates I give you?" she asked. Jessie nodded to her.

Paige turned on the water and started to clean the dishes that had been dumped, in a not-so-organized way, into the sink.

The running water helped to mute the semi-loud conversation that was building in the other room between her housemates.

Jessie dried the bowls, plates, and forks as they were given to her, and she made small piles on the counter to sort the objects.

When Paige was done, she wiped down the counter top and put Jessie on her hip to carry her back into the living room.

It was clear that things had gotten a bit heated, and she hoped that seeing the kid would get them to take it down a notch.

"I need a drink," Johnny said, lounging back on the couch.

"Well 'The Drop' is out of the question," Paige said, bouncing Jessie once in her arms.

Charlie peered out the glass wall at the front of the house. "We're overdue for a bonfire," she suggested.

"It's not even dark out yet, Chuck," Jakes said to her.

"Well some of us have an earlier bedtime," she said back at him.

Jakes put his hands up as if he was surrendering.

"You too D.J.," Briggs said to him. "You need to be that garage by 8."

He sighed, but Briggs could tell that Jakes was pleased with his involvement in the case. "Come on, Johnny," Jakes said rolling his eyes, "let's go start building this fire."

Paige looked down at Jessie. "Do you want to go sit with everyone down by the beach? We have a really nice spot where we can relax."

Jessie looked up at her.

"If you don't want to leave the house, I can stay here with you," Paige added.

Jessie looked at Mike, Briggs, and Charlie.

"Yep," Paige said to her, "everybody will be there to help keep you safe."

Jessie laid her head back down on Paige's chest. "Beach," she said quietly.

Paige smiled, "Ok, let's go get you a sweater to wear."

She kissed the top of Jessie's head and started the climb up to the girl's bedroom.


	17. Chapter 17

"Bathroom," Jessie whispered in Paige's ear as they climbed the steps.

Paige moved a little bit faster. "Ok, I'm going to show you the bathroom by your room," she said.

Paige made it up to the third floor and put Jessie down in front of the bathroom. She opened the door and Jessie trotted over to the toilet.

"Ok, so this is the bathroom you're going to use because the one downstairs is a little crowded." Paige wrinkled her face, "…And the boys use it," she said rolling her eyes. Jessie giggled at her remark. "We can leave the light on at night so that you can find it when it's dark, ok?"

Jessie made her way over to the sink and tried to wash her hands. Seeing her struggle to reach the faucet, Paige made a mental note to find a foot-stool later and lifted Jessie up so she could wash her hands.

"Who taught you to wash your hands?" Paige asked noticing how particular she was. Jessie didn't respond.

"Did Katia make you wash your hands?" Jessie nodded and held onto Paige as she carried her out of the bathroom. Paige hadn't thought about it earlier, but it seemed strange that Jessie showed up hungry and dirty, but still knew to wash.

Paige walked over to Jessie's closet and was happy to see a zip-up hoodie hanging there. "Perfect," she said to herself as she took it and walked over to the bed. She put Jessie down and helped the girl slide her arms through the sleeves.

It was little bit big on her, but Paige could tell she liked wearing the sweatshirt. Paige scooped Jessie back up in her arms and went to her own bedroom.

She deposited Jessie onto the bed and got a sweater for herself out of her dresser. Jessie pulled her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around them.

Paige put her hair back in a bun and reached in her closet for a pair of flip-flops. Jessie's eyes were glued to her movement around the room.

When Paige turned around towards Jessie, she noticed that the girl's tone had changed. She was deep in thought and was carrying a worried expression on her face.

"Ready?" Paige said with a big smile, trying to get her to relax. Jessie didn't look at her.

Paige sat down next to her on the bed and wrapped her arm around the girl, pulling her close. "What are you thinking about?" Paige asked her, running her hand up and down the girl's arm. Jessie looked up at Paige; her eyes were glossy.

Paige sighed and kissed the top of her head. "I know everything's really confusing right now," Paige said calmly, "but it's going to be alright." She let a few seconds pass. "Come on, let's go outside and listen to the ocean."

She stood up and put her hands out to Jessie, ready to pick her back up, but Jessie didn't move. Trying a different tactic, Paige squatted down in front of her and looked into her eyes. "Do you want to just stay here and not go outside?" Paige asked quietly.

Jessie shook her head. "I don't like night time," she whispered.

Paige looked to the window; it was getting dark pretty quickly.

Paige took a breath and smiled at her. "Well that's really good then, because this fire is going to be really bright!" Paige threw her hands forward and lightly tickled her. Jessie fell back onto the bed, and after a few seconds, she gave such a belly laugh that Paige couldn't help but laugh too.

"Let's go see everybody." Paige picked her up and headed downstairs. Jessie held on tightly as they made their descent.

Mike was in the kitchen holding a grocery bag. "Briggs and Charlie went to get some six-packs. They said they'd meet us down there."

Paige grabbed two water bottles out of the fridge with one hand, and Mike added them to the bag.

"We never got to talk about this afternoon," Paige said to him. Jessie yawned and buried her face in Paige's neck.

"About the case?" Mike asked her, trying to think of what she meant.

"You know what you did," she said smiling. Paige glanced down at Jessie and then looked back up at Mike. She took a step closer to him and planted a long kiss on his lips. She pulled away after a few seconds and looked up at him, "Thank you for stepping up." Mike smiled at her and gestured for them to make their way outside.

They walked down to the beach together and saw that Briggs and Charlie had beaten them there.

Jessie picked her head up to stare at the bonfire. "Pretty cool, huh?" Johnny said to her. Paige sat on one of the long flat rocks and turned Jessie around in her lap so that the girl could see everyone.

Briggs and Charlie were sitting next to one another in the sand, leaning up against the rock across from Paige.

Mike sat down beside Paige. She reached into the grocery bag he had and grabbed a water bottle. "What else is in there?" she asked Mike. Her hand felt something squishy in the bag. She opened the water and handed it to Jessie. Paige was happy to see the girl sipping the drink.

Johnny interrupted Mike before he could respond, "Dude, did you bring the 'mallows?"

"Right here, John," he said, tossing him the bag.

"I'm gonna take a guess," Johnny said over to Jessie, "and say that you've probably never roasted a marshmallow before…" His tone of voice was almost comical.

"Do you know what that is?" Paige asked her. Jessie didn't respond.

"Ok, watch," Johnny said picking up a skewer. "You put a marshmallow on the end and you hold it over the fire." He was making a show of a very simple concept, but Jessie watched him carefully.

After rotating the marshmallow a few times over the flame, Johnny slid it off of the skewer and popped it into his mouth. "Delicious," he said throwing his head back. "You want one?" he asked her. Jessie shifted a little in Paige's lap.

"I know you want one…" Johnny said, "come on." He waved her over with his hand and Paige was almost shocked to see Jessie slowly try to slide off of her lap.

Johnny met her halfway and took her hand. "Anybody else?" Johnny asked looking around the circle. "Make me one, J.T.," Briggs said, raising his hand up.

Johnny grabbed another skewer off the ground and put a marshmallow on each of them. He handed one of them to Jessie, but when she took it from him, the marshmallow weighed down into the fire.

"Woah, woah, I got it." It was Jakes. He quickly kneeled behind Jessie so that he was almost down to her height and helped her hold the skewer in her hands, raising the marshmallow out of the flame.

"Good save, Jakes," Paige said laughing. Despite Jakes' help, Jessie looked very focused and mimicked what Johnny did.

"Ready?" Johnny asked her. She nodded and Jakes helped her take the marshmallow off the skewer so that she wouldn't burn herself. Jessie looked at Jakes with a puzzled expression, and Paige wondered whether or not Jessie realized that it was Jakes who had been helping her.

Jessie took the marshmallow from him and ate it in one bite, just like Johnny had done.

"Good?" Jakes asked her, still kneeling in front of her. She smiled at him.

"Should we make one for Paige?" he asked her. Jessie nodded yes and let Jakes help her roast another marshmallow. When it was done, Jakes helped her carry the skewer over to Paige and Mike. "Yep, hold it up straight," he said, "don't hit anybody… perfect."

"For me?!" Paige asked her. Jessie nodded with delight.

"Oh, why thank you!" Paige tossed it a few inches into the air and caught it in her mouth. Jessie giggled at her. "Do I get one?" Mike asked. Jessie looked up at Jakes. "Ok, you heard the man; let's go get one for Mike."

After Jessie walked away from them, Paige leaned her head up against Mike's shoulder. "Tonight's going to be an adventure," she said to him, "don't expect to sleep."

"Normally I would be very excited to hear you say those words to me…" Mike said with a grin. Paige swatted at him with her hand.

Mike pulled away from her, but then leaned in to her ear. "At least we have a pretty good excuse for staying in the same bed," he whispered.

Paige looked over to Jessie, who was now getting help from Johnny. Paige couldn't hear what Johnny was saying to the girl, but there was a big smile on her face.

"Oh, I don't know," Paige said playfully to Mike.

"Oh come on," Mike said, "Even I know there's no way she's sleeping by herself tonight."

"Yeah," Paige said, "I figure I'll be up in her bed for a good chunk of the night… but if she wants a bodyguard… she might choose Johnny."

Mike looked at her as if she had just put a dagger through his heart. He gasped loudly.

"Never," he whispered.


	18. Chapter 18

Mike put his hands out to accept the marshmallow as she walked towards him.

Just as she made it over to the rock, Briggs' cell started to ring. Jessie turned around to see what the noise was, almost whacking Mike in the face with the skewer.

"Hey, hey, hey," Mike said playfully putting his hands up and leaning back. Jessie looked back to Mike and steadied it so that he could pull the marshmallow off.

Trying to outdo Paige, Mike also tossed the marshmallow up and tried to catch it in his mouth, but he missed and it landed in the sand.

Jessie laughed at his reaction. "That's what you get, Mike," Paige said to him with a smirk on her face.

She looked over to Paul and saw that he had ended the call and was talking quietly to Charlie.

"Jessie," Charlie called over to her, "let's go put our toes in the ocean!"

Jessie looked up at Paige, "Oh, that sounds like fun. Go ahead," she said encouragingly. Charlie walked over and took Jessie's hand. The two of them slowly made their way over to the water.

As soon as Jessie was out of ear-shot, Paige turned to Briggs. "What's going on?" she asked him.

"That was HQ. They think they've identified the man in the picture who gave the kid an anxiety attack. His last name is Sulla. I didn't want to say it in front of her. They have some intel on his car, house, etc. We have to link him to the buses."

"Anything else about my interview tomorrow?" Jakes asked him.

"Nope. Just get eyes on the schedule."

Jakes lifted his beer up and nodded at Briggs.

"So was that it?" Mike asked.

"Well, they're having a hard time proving that one of the trafficked girls lived in the Barone house. They want us to register Jessie as a C.I. so we can start documenting what she says as evidence for the investigation." He dropped his head and stared at the sand. "And they still want a blood sample to pin those negligence and endangerment charges on her father… "

"And to test for drugs, no?" Mike cut him off and Briggs looked up at her.

"Yeah, Mike, I guess," he said, "They don't have any kind of documentation. No birth certificate, house deed, school enrollment… nothing. He's denying having a kid and so far it seems like some of the other guys are covering for him."

Paige looked over at Briggs. "Let's do it in the morning," Paige said, "Are you going to—"

Briggs nodded at her, "I'm going with Jakes to the interview so I'll stop by and pick up the draw kit after that. We should get back here before 10 and I don't want-."

"Hi!" Paige said, cutting Briggs off. She put her arms out towards Jessie. The girl let go of Charlie's hand and ran over to Paige as soon as she got closer to the rock circle.

"Was the ocean cold?" Paige asked her. She nodded really big. Paige lifted her up onto her lap and Jessie stretched her feet out in front of her.

"Ooh, sandy feet," Paige said, lightly tickling her belly. "We'll get the sand off after your feet dry."

"Here, use this," Mike said, taking a towel out of the bag. He tried to hand it to Paige, but she didn't take it from him.

"Can Mike see your feet?" Paige asked Jessie. The girl shifted sideways a bit and stretched her legs out towards Mike, resting her ankles on the top of his thigh.

"Uhhh, well I though that…"

"Mikey, you can't mess that up," Johnny yelled over to him.

Mike put his hand on one the girl's ankles and awkwardly used the towel get the sand off of her foot. When he started to do the same thing to the other foot, she jerked her leg back. Mike quickly let go of her, thinking that he had hurt her somehow.

"Did Mike tickle your foot?" Paige asked smiling. Jessie nodded and put her foot back so that Mike could finish getting the sand off.

When he was done he tried to shake most of the sand off the towel before putting it back in the bag. Jessie tucked her legs in and snuggled close up against Paige.

The group sat in silence for a few minutes before Jakes decided to call it a night and walked back up to the house.

The fire was getting smaller and Paige could see Jessie starting to close her eyes.

Johnny and Charlie were telling stories, with Briggs chiming in every once and a while to add some commentary.

Paige tried her best to get Jessie to fall asleep. It would be much easier to put her to bed if she wasn't anxious.

After another twenty minutes or so, Johnny started to put the fire out and Briggs and Charlie were collecting empties in a bag.

"You think she's out?" Mike asked Paige. Jessie felt like dead-weight in her arms. "Yeah, I think it's safe to move her now," she said to him.

"You guys go ahead," Charlie said to them. "We'll be up a in few minutes."

Paige got a better grip on Jessie and lifted her up, holding her close to her chest as she made her way back up to Graceland.

"Do you want me to take her?" Mike asked her when they got to the long flight of stairs outside of the house.

"No, I'm fine," she said to him, "and I don't want her to wake up."

Mike followed close behind Paige as she made her way up to the main floor of the house. She looked around to see if Jakes was there before continuing.

"I'll go put her down and then… meet you in your room?" Paige said it with a little uncertainty, but kissed him lightly to give him an idea of what she meant.

"You don't want help?" he whispered to her. She shook her head. "Ok, see you soon," he said smiling. He kissed her in return and they lingered for a few seconds before she pulled back.

Paige turned away from him and climbed up the two flights of stairs to Jessie's room, laying her down carefully on the bed. She didn't know which drawer Charlie put the pajamas in, but she found them on her second try. She took out a pajama set and put it next to Jessie on the bed. She slowly changed the girl into the pajamas and tried not to move her too much. She also checked to make sure the small gauze pads were still covering the burns on her back.

After moving her other clothes, she walked around to the top of the bed and pulled the comforter back so that it would be easier to tuck her in.

Paige gingerly lifted Jessie into her arms, but when she laid the girl down on the sheets and let her head fall to the pillow, her eyes shot open. Paige immediately noticed how confused she was.

"Hey there," she said to her, "you're ok. You fell asleep at the bonfire and I carried you back up to your new bed. You're in your new room. Isn't the bed so soft and warm?"

Jessie nodded at her, but still looked panicked. Paige realized that she was still clutching her arm, preventing Paige from standing up all the way; she wouldn't let go.

"Do you want me to lay with you?" Paige asked her. Jessie's eyes drifted to the open door. Briggs, Charlie and Johnny must have gotten back from the beach because the volume from downstairs had significantly increased.

Jessie tried to sit up when she heard Johnny's laugh.

Paige took a breath. "Do you want to go say goodnight to everyone?"

Jessie looked up at Paige with big eyes and nodded. Paige smiled at her and carefully picked her up. "Come on, let's go say goodnight."

As they walked out of the room, Paige reached over to the light switch and raised the dimmer a bit so that when they got back it wouldn't look so dark.

Paige could see Charlie, Briggs, and Johnny in the kitchen as she got to the bottom of the stairs.

"Oh good, you found the pajamas," Charlie said.

"Yeah, thank you for organizing everything. Somebody wanted to say goodnight."

"Oh," Charlie said walking over to Paige. She laid her hand on the side of Jessie's head and gently swept her fingers through the girl's hair. "Goodnight, sweetheart," she said to Jessie, "Thank you for taking a walk with me tonight." Jessie smiled at her.

Paige walked over to Briggs. "Goodnight, Jessie," he said with a gentle tone, "I'm really happy to have you on our team." Briggs smiled at her before following Charlie upstairs.

Johnny came over and Jessie let go of Paige with one hand. She wrapped her fingers into a fist and held her arm out to Johnny.

"A fist bump for me?" he asked playfully. She nodded and he obliged. "I had so much fun hanging out with you today," he said sincerely. "Get some good sleep so that we can play in the morning, ok?" She nodded and smiled at him. "I'm gonna go lock up," he said to Paige.

He walked back out to the foyer and Paige turned towards the stairs. "Ok," she said to Jessie, "let's go say goodnight to Jakes and Mike."

Paige noticed that Dale's door was still open so she peeked inside. He was sitting at his desk going through some files. "Somebody wants to say goodnight, Jakes," she said into the room. Jakes spun around in his chair. "Goodnight," he said. He waved at Jessie and she waved back to him, keeping her head up against Paige's shoulder.

Paige shut his door and walked over to Mike's room. The door was closed and she was hoping that he wasn't in the shower or something. She knocked a few times. "Somebody wants to say goodnight, Mike," she said.

After a few seconds, Mike opened the door. He was already changed into a t-shirt and sweatpants. He snickered quietly at Paige. "She woke up," he mumbled to her.

He looked down at Jessie, who was staring into his room. "Goodnight, Jessie," he said to her. Noticing that she seemed anxious, he made a suggestion. "I'll bet Paige will read you a book when you get back upstairs."

Jessie looked up at Paige. "Is that what you want to do?" Paige asked her. Jessie nodded. "Ok, let's go pick out one to read."

"Bye, Mike," Paige said, turning away from him.

The girl's grip got much tighter as they made their way to the third floor.

Paige carried her over to the small bookshelf by the beanbag chair. "Should I pick one?" Paige asked. Jessie nodded and Paige grabbed a colorful book off the shelf.

She got into the bed and situated Jessie next to her. The girl didn't seem too happy to be in the bed. Paige reached over to the nightstand and turned on the small lamp.

Jessie nuzzled into Paige's side as she read the first few pages of the children's book.

She tried to keep her voice calm and steady in an attempt to lull her back to sleep. By the time Paige got to the end, she was pretty confident that Jessie had dozed off once more. The girl's grip on Paige was slipping and her head was heavy on the pillow.

Paige looked up and was startled to see Mike leaning against the frame of the doorway. He had something in his hand.

"Is she out?" he whispered. Paige nodded and slowly leaned over to shut off the lamp. He walked up to her and set the object in his hand down on the nightstand.

"You are so smart, Mike Warren," she said with a smile. He had taken a transmitter watch from the phone room and set it next to Jessie's bed as a monitor. "I already have the audio in my room. I set it to a portable speaker," he whispered.

She very carefully slid out of the bed and covered Jessie with the comforter.

The two of them held hands on their way downstairs. Paige snuck into his room with him and the two of them took advantage of their time alone.

She was standing with her back to his bed, wearing a mischievous grin on her face. He gently pushed her so that she fell backwards. He hovered over her on the bed, kissing her and slowly letting his body weight transfer down onto her.

"Somebody's really happy to see me," Paige said giggling.

Mike picked his head up. "What can I say? Seeing you take charge today has been a huge turn on."

"You didn't do so bad yourself, Levi," she added.

Paige managed to pull his shirt off while he kissed her neck, working his way down to her chest. He slowly unzipped the hoodie she had on and in one swift movement he rolled onto his back and flipped her so that she was sitting on top of him.

Paige glanced over at the speaker on the nightstand and stilled her hands that were now resting on his bare chest.

"What's the matter?" he asked her.

"This just doesn't feel right."

"She can't hear us," he said kissing her palms.

"I know," Paige said. "I just don't want us to be in a… 'compromising situation' when she wakes up."

He laughed quietly at her choice of words.

"Well, how long did she last without a nightmare earlier today?"

Paige ran her hands through his hair, "Uhh, about an hour or so I guess."

"Oh, Paige, I'm a little offended," he said playfully.

She shot him a confused glance.

"We don't need an hour…" he said with a bit of a dark tone.

Paige smirked and shook her head at him. She leaned down and continued to kiss him, grinning as his hands made their way to her hips.


	19. Chapter 19

12:18. That's what the clock read as Paige slowly opened her eyes. She was still using Mike's bare chest as a pillow; his arm was wrapped around her frame, holding her close to him.

She slightly repositioned herself to try and get more comfortable.

"Hey, there," Mike whispered.

"We fell asleep…" Paige whispered back to him.

Mike squeezed her hip with the hand that was holding her. "Well, that's what you do after two people…"

Paige playfully kicked him under the sheets. "Are you sure the monitor is working?" she asked him.

"Yes," he said clearly. He kissed the top of her head. "Go back to sleep, Paige. We'll hear her…"

Paige skeptically closed her eyes once more.

* * *

><p>Her eyes shot open. Mike was rubbing his hand on her back. "Do you hear that?" he asked her softly. Paige looked over at his nightstand. The clock read 1:35.<p>

She stared at the speaker, trying to figure out what the noise was.

"She's breathing heavy," Paige said to him with a worried tone. She sat up a little more. "Do you think she's ok?" she asked him.

"Let's give it a second," Mike said, eager to go back to sleep.

Paige kept her eyes open and listened intently to the small speaker.

"I think it's getting worse, Mike," she said. It sounded like someone was blowing air into the transmitter. The sounds got harsher and they no longer came in a steady rhythm. "I'm going to check on her…" she said, trying to push herself up and out of the bed.

By the time Paige got to Mike's door, the heavy breathing had turned into cries. She looked back at Mike.

He bent down to grab his t-shirt off the floor. "I'll be right behind you," he said, "Go."

Paige didn't shut the door as she left, bolting up the stairs to Jessie's room.

She saw the girl twisting in bed, eyes scrunched and fists swinging once more. Paige went over to her and sat on the edge of the bed so that the girl was only an arm's reach away. Jessie's breathing was heavy, but sporadic, and her cries were growing louder.

"Jessie, wake up sweetheart," Paige said to her, running her hand over the girl's head. "You're safe; The bad guys aren't here; No one is going to hurt you; Wake up for me." She repeated the phrases and tried to hold one of Jessie's hands, but the girl fought her off.

"Just hold her."

Paige snapped her head back over to the door. It was Mike.

Paige put one hand under Jessie's knees and wrapped her other arm around the girl's shoulders. She lifted Jessie onto her lap and held the girl tightly. She kept talking to her with a calm voice and held her close to her chest. Jessie continued to twist and was still clearly lost in the nightmare.

Mike walked over to the small table and turned the transmitter off before sitting beside Paige on the edge of the bed.

He ran his hand over the back of the girl's head and through her hair, repeating some of what Paige was saying to try and wake her up from the nightmare.

They froze as Jessie started to cough. The tone of her body changed and she was now clinging to Paige instead of trying to fight her.

She immediately started rubbing circles on her back. "Shhh, we're right here. We've got you. You're ok."

Paige could still hear cries mixed in with the coughing.

She rocked back and forth with the girl in her arms, occasionally kissing the top of her head. After a few minutes, the cries stopped.

"She's shaking," Mike whispered.

Paige glanced behind her at the full size bed. "Is there a smaller blanket in here?" she asked him.

"I don't know."

"Go get the purple one on my bed."

Mike wrinkled his eyebrows, trying to understand why she wanted it.

"Just go," she said, "quickly."

As Mike ran back downstairs, Paige repositioned herself so that she was sitting completely on the bed with her back up against the headboard.

She moved Jessie so that the girl was straddling her lap. Jessie buried her face in Paige's chest and gripped the sleeves of the agent's sweatshirt.

"Mike will be right back," she said. Paige had both of her arms wrapped around Jessie and was holding her protectively. "I need you to take slow deep breaths with me, Jessie."

Paige dramatically took a big breath, watching as the girl's head rose and fell with the movement of her chest. "Can you breathe with me?" Jessie didn't respond, but Paige thought she may have tried to have her breath match what Paige was doing.

Mike came back holding the purple blanket. Paige gestured with her head for him to come sit next to them. The movement on the bed startled the girl. "It's just Mike," Paige whispered.

She took the blanket from Mike and continued to try and get Jessie to slow down her breathing. She wrapped the blanket around her back, pulling it and securing it tightly up against her chest.

"I wasn't holding her tight enough to control the shaking, and I didn't want to put too much pressure on the burns," she explained to him. He nodded at her, but he didn't seem persuaded or impressed. "Breathing control and physical security are like, child anxiety 101."

After another few minutes, Paige could feel that Jessie was less tense. She looked down and saw that the girl's eyes were open, staring over at the closet.

"Do you want to lie down with us?" Paige asked her gently. Mike was already lying in the bed on his side, watching how Paige was handling the situation.

Even though she didn't get an answer, it was after 2am and she knew that they needed to sleep.

Paige started to scoot forward on the bed so that she could lie back. She felt Jessie resist wanting to lie down. "You're safe," Paige said, "You need to try and sleep. Mike and I aren't going anywhere." She rolled towards Mike a little to try and get Jessie to lie between them on the bed.

Seeing Jessie's hesitance, Mike reached out and helped Paige get Jessie to lie down.

The girl kept the purple blanket wrapped close around her as she snuggled into the pillow on the bed. Mike and Paige were close enough to her that she could feel them on either side.

Mike ran his hand through her hair again. "Do you want to tell us what made you so scared?" Jessie kept her head tucked into the pillow.

"Do you want to read another story?" Paige asked softly.

After a few moments, Jessie turned her head and looked over to Paige. "Sing?" she whispered, her puffy red eyes were pleading with Paige and her little worried tone pulled at the woman's heart.

"You want me to sing?" Paige asked her. She rubbed circles on her back, proud that Jessie spoke to them. The girl took a breath and nodded.

"Close your eyes," Paige said soothingly. Mike smiled at Paige, trying to hold back a laugh. Paige leaned down to Jessie's ear, "Next time, Mike is going to sing, ok?" Jessie nodded.

"I'm used to bar karaoke... I'll think of something else," Paige said to her with a small nervous laugh. "Let's see if we can make this more of a lullaby."

"_When something may upset you, you never let it get you down. Don't wear a frown. If fortune should forsake you, don't let it ever make you sigh. Keep flying high…_"

Paige smiled as she sang the next part of the song, "_Be a crooner, not a groaner, never kick. Here's a spelling lesson that will do the trick…_"

Paige looked over to Mike as if he was going to chime in with her, "_You've got to S-M-I-L-E, to be H-A-double-P-Y. Keep it in mind when you're blue. It's easy to spell and just as easy to do..._"

Paige looked down to Jessie and thought she saw a small smile creep across her face. Her legs were stretched out more and Paige noticed that one of her hands was now holding onto Mike's arm.

Paige continued to turn the Shirley Temple song into a slow and calming tune, singing another verse and the chorus again. Mike looked just as amused and relaxed as Jessie.

When she finished the song, she hoped that Jessie was close to falling asleep. Paige snuggled into the bed, making herself comfortable. She reached out and rested a hand on Jessie's back, smiling as Mike gently placed his hand over hers.


	20. Chapter 20

The sun crept through the window the next morning and Jessie slowly opened her eyes to adjust to the light. She wiggled out from under Paige's arm and let go of Mike, smiling that the two of them had stayed.

She looked out into the hallway. Not seeing anyone, she thought it was safe to go use the bathroom. She was proud of herself for remembering what Paige had said to her yesterday about which one to use.

She crawled off of the bed, careful not to wake them up, and made her way across the hall.

A door shut behind her. There were footsteps.

Startled by the trespasser, she ran to the corner of the loft space and sat up against the wall. She hugged her knees on instinct and kept her head down.

"Oh no, little one. Did I scare you?"

Jessie shifted her eyes up. Johnny was now sitting cross-legged on the floor a few feet away from her. "I had to get a tape out of the phone room," he said to her, pointing to the door behind him, "We all use this room for work. I thought you were still asleep… it's really early." He watched her carefully, trying to read her body language. He could tell she was doing the same thing and trying to read him.

"Did you sleep ok?"

She nodded and slowly started to stand up.

"Oh, did you need to -?" Johnny said smiling. He gestured for her to move into the bathroom and shut the door behind her.

When she opened the bathroom door a few minutes later, Johnny was still out in the hallway, but was peeking his head into her bedroom.

He turned around and smiled at her. "You had a sleepover?" he whispered.

"Shhh," she said putting a finger over her mouth. He put his hands up in surrender.

She walked back over to the sink and put her arms up, hoping that Johnny would understand what she wanted. "I have a better idea," he said. He disappeared from her view. She looked into the hallway and saw him come out of another room with a small wooden box.

He put the box down in front of the sink and she stepped onto it. Johnny watched her as she washed her hands and her face. He went through a small grocery bag on the shelf and found the toothbrush and toothpaste that Charlie and Briggs had bought the day before. He was relieved when she took the items from him and brushed her own teeth.

She stepped off the box, but hesitated before going back into the hall.

"Are you hungry?"

She nodded and grabbed his hand. "We just gotta do one thing…" he said, walking with her into the phone room.

He took a piece of paper and scribbled a few words down quickly. He folded it in half and led Jessie back over to her bedroom. "Go put this on your pillow."

She let go of his hand and carried the note to the bed, carefully crawling in between Mike and Paige. She put the folded paper down and crawled backwards off the bed, running over to Johnny after she had finished the job.

"Good work," he said. He carefully picked her up and made his way down to the kitchen.

Briggs was standing up against the counter with a mug in his hand.

"You doing sunrise yoga again, Briggs?"

"Nahh, just trying to wake myself up," he said. "I leave with Jakes in an hour."

Briggs looked at him suspiciously. "She was already up," Johnny said to him. "I, uh, had to go get something out of the phone room and she was in the hall…"

"Sure you did…"

"I was right though, man," Johnny said smiling. He bounced Jessie up and looked into her eyes. "Did Mike and Paige come help you at the same time last night?" His eyes were narrowed as if he was interrogating her, but he kept a big smile plastered across his face.

She shrugged her shoulders and thought about it for a few moments before nodding her head.

"See?" Johnny said to Briggs, throwing his free hand up. "What did I tell you?"

He sat Jessie up on one of the barstools at the island and grabbed two bowls and a box of cereal. Briggs got some watermelon and juice out of the fridge and helped him set up breakfast for her. Johnny took a bite of cereal and Jessie quickly started eating, spilling some of the cornflakes onto the counter.

"You have any meets today?" Briggs asked him.

"Yeah, but not till tonight. I'm heading back to the club with Carlito. I'm going to see if he knows anything about the next pick-up."

He didn't catch himself in time. Briggs and Johnny whipped their heads over to her when they heard the metal hit the countertop. She had only dropped the spoon, but the look on her face made it seem as though she had done a lot more damage.

"Hey, I'm playing pretend, remember?" Johnny said calmly.

"He's –" she whispered.

"He's what, kiddo?" Briggs said softly.

"He's the boss," she said looking down at her food. She picked the spoon back up and started to eat again.

Johnny and Briggs shared a glance.

"Yeah, we know about him being the boss. Have you ever met him before?" Briggs asked her.

She shook her head. "No, the rat yells about him." She took a big gulp of juice.

"Would it be ok if we talked more about him later?" Briggs asked.

She nodded and put the juice down with two hands.

"Alright, kiddo. I have to go get ready; I'll see you later." He smiled at her and then went back upstairs to finish prepping with Jakes.

Johnny put his cereal bowl in the sink. "So, I was thinking of going surfing this morning." He paused and tilted his head. "Do you want to come with me?"

She shrugged her shoulders and continued to eat.

"Do you even know what I'm talking about?"

She shook her head.

"Ok, let me rephrase," he said. "Do you want to go have some fun at the beach?"

She nodded and smiled at him.

"Ok good, because I picked up something for you yesterday when I was at the pier…"

She followed him with her eyes as he reached into the hall closet and pulled out a shopping bag. He walked over to her and took what looked like a bright green shirt and shorts out of the bag.

"It's a bathing suit, but it's better for surfing," he explained to her. "See? The shorts are longer and it has sleeves… and," he poked at the foam pieces that were sewn into the shirt, "it helps you float."

Seeing that she was done with her breakfast, he lifted her off of the stool and walked her over to the downstairs bathroom. "Can you change in here? I'm going to go put my wetsuit on and grab a board for us."

Before she knew it, he was already halfway up the steps. She didn't like that the shirt was puffy, but she was excited to see the new clothes.

She went into the bathroom and changed out of her pajamas. She managed to get the shorts on, but the top was too tight and it got stuck on her head.

"Let me help you." Johnny was already back and pulled her arm through the sleeve. He stretched the top so that it didn't pull on her bandages as he slid it over her torso.

She took a step back from him when she saw what he was wearing.

"It's called a wetsuit. Do you like it?"

Johnny flexed his arms and Jessie giggled at him. He took the pajamas and laid them on a chair in the hallway.

"Ready?"

She nodded and he picked her up with one arm, grabbing his board with the other. He was careful not to smack the wall with the surfboard on his way down the stairs to the beach.

* * *

><p>Paige yawned loudly and stretched her hand out. She smiled when her fingers found Mike's bicep.<p>

"Good morning," Mike said. He leaned down and gently kissed the top of her hand.

Still sleepy, she moved over towards him; he rolled onto his side to grab her in an embrace. He slid his arm around her ribcage and put his hand on her chest, pushing her tightly up against him. "Did you sleep well?" he asked, planting small kisses on the back of her neck.

"Hmmm," she hummed. She tilted her head back to give him more access to her neck and the side of her face.

She tried to open her eyes, but squinted at the brightness of the room. "You need new curtains…" she whispered.

Mike froze. As if on cue, they both shot up and stared at one another. "She's gone," Paige said, realizing where they were.

She jumped out of bed and frantically looked out into the hallway.

"Paige, look!" Mike was holding a folded piece of paper. Paige turned around and watched him open it. He took a breath and looked up at her. "Johnny took her to the beach."

Paige narrowed her eyes. "I'm going to kill him."

Instead of matching her tone, Mike smiled and casually got out of the bed.

He walked over to her and gently slid his hands over her hips. "You could go down to the beach and bring her back." He trailed kisses down the side of her face and moved his thumbs in little circles. "Or… we can make the most of this morning off together…"

She placed her hand on his abdomen and playfully trailed her fingers down.

He pushed his pelvis forward against her hand.

"Not in here," she said, raising her eyebrows at him.

She pulled away from him with a smirk on her face and ran down the stairs. He chased after her and made sure that no one was around before following her into her bedroom and shutting the door behind him.


	21. Chapter 21

Johnny put her down when they got to the sand at the bottom of the steps. He took her hand and walked with her out to the ocean.

"Ok, let's talk about paddling," he said when they got close to the water. He put the board down on the sand and laid down on it on his stomach. "So we ride the board out like this." He circled his arms around as if he was actually paddling to show her how to do it.

"And then we wait for a good wave… and when it comes, we paddle paddle paddle, and then pop-!" He pushed off the board with his hands and popped up to his feet. "Got it?" he said with a big smile.

Jessie shook her head, looking a little intimidated.

He smiled at her. "Ok, you just stay down then. Come on!"

Before she had time to react, he picked her up under one arm and grabbed the board with the other, heading to the ocean. Jessie pulled herself up higher on him when she felt the cold water.

Once he was waist deep, he let go of the board and laid her on her belly towards the nose. "Hold on tight!" he said. He jumped on behind her, his chest pinning her feet down. He tried to get her to help him paddle, but she just held on fiercely to the sides.

The water was pretty calm, but occasionally they paddled over a small wave. Johnny made sound effects each time the water smacked against the nose of the board and prayed that she wouldn't panic if she somehow got knocked off.

When he thought they were out far enough, he stopped paddling and turned them around so that they were facing the beach. "Do you see our house?" he asked her.

She turned her head around to look at him and nodded. Johnny got nervous when he saw that she wasn't smiling.

"This is gonna be so fun," he said. He looked behind him and spotted a good wave.

He started paddling more aggressively than he had done before. "Stay just like that!" he yelled to her as the wave caught them.

Even though it was pretty small, the wave propelled them to the beach at a rapid pace. Just as he was about to pop up, he saw Jessie let go with one hand. He immediately grabbed on to the sides of the board to steady it. She reached behind her with one arm and locked her hand behind his neck.

Johnny pushed his elbows closer together to keep her steady between his arms, and managed to ride the wave all the way in to the shoreline.

He exhaled loudly and looked down at her. She was now lying on her back, her arm still wrapped around his neck. "So?!" Johnny asked smiling.

"Again," she whispered.

He jumped off the board, took her in his arms, and tossed her gently up into the air.

"Is that an order?" he asked playfully.

She nodded and grinned. "Alright," he said, putting her back on the board, "if you insist." He spun the board back around and jumped on it behind her just like he had done before. "But this time, you gotta help me!"

He took her hands and made her start paddling in the water. After a few strokes, he let go of her and paddled harder on his own, happy to see that she continued to help him.

When he was satisfied with how far they'd gone, he got the board to turn around.

He sat up with his feet hanging off into the water. "Do you want to sit up more?" He grabbed her waist and pulled her up off the board. She tucked her knees underneath herself and sat back on her heels, her hands still holding on to the sides.

Johnny saw a good wave coming and managed to paddle out despite Jessie kneeling on the nose. When the wave caught up to them, he popped up onto his feet. "Here we go!" he yelled. He reached down pulled Jessie up so that she was standing. She grabbed onto his hands, holding them tightly to her waist.

As they got closer to the beach, Johnny started to lose his balance and had to jump off. The water was only chest deep on him and he managed to keep Jessie mostly out of the water by holding her up above his head.

After he steadied himself, he sat her on the board. She clapped her hands together and he realized how excited she was. Her laughter was contagious. "You did it!" he said. He tossed her up into the air again and held her in his arms.

Jessie smiled at him, but then looked over to the house. "I want to tell Paige," she said to him softly.

Johnny looked over at Graceland. "Yeah… ok," he said. "She might be a little busy though…" He laughed at his own joke and carried Jessie out of the water and back up to the house.

* * *

><p>When they got to the living room, Johnny put her down and leaned the surfboard up against the wall.<p>

She ran ahead of him up the stairs to Paige's room. Afraid that she might walk-in on something, he caught up to her just as she reached the loft and picked her back up.

"Uhhh, Paige might still be asleep," he said. He saw that her door was shut, which wasn't the case when they had left the house earlier that morning. He made sure that he was loud so that if Paige did have company in her bedroom, she would be warned that they were back.

Jessie pointed up at the staircase. "You think she's still upstairs?" he asked her. Jessie nodded at him.

"Ok, let's go check!" Johnny carried Jessie up to her room.

Jessie was a little disappointed to see that her bed was empty. "How about you get dressed and then we can go find Paige," he suggested. He walked with her over to the closet and she picked out a t-shirt and shorts.

He looked around the room for a moment before carrying her over to the dresser. Taking a guess, he opened the top drawer. "So organized, Chuck," he said to himself. Jessie grabbed a pair of underwear from the drawer and Johnny put her down next to the bed.

"Uhh, do you need help?" he asked her. She poked at the foam pieces in the swim top.

"Ok, lift your arms up." He tried to get it off of her without hurting her, but it was definitely a struggle. "We'll get one with a zipper, ok?" She nodded and picked up the t-shirt that she had dropped onto the bed.

"I'll meet you back up here in a few minutes, ok?" She nodded as she put on the dry shirt. He walked out of the room to go get changed, only closing her door halfway.

After getting on the underwear and shorts, she wasn't sure what to do with the wet swimsuit. She peered out into the hall and didn't see anybody, so she carried the wet clothes into the bathroom. She slid the shower door open and dropped them on the floor.

Satisfied with what she had done, she walked over to the staircase and sat on the top step to wait for Johnny.

He ran up the steps a few minutes later and laughed when he saw where she was. He stopped a few steps below her. "Come on," he said, "let's go wake up Paige. She moved to her room when we were at the beach."

Jessie smiled and followed him down the stairs. When they got to Paige's door, Johnny convinced her to knock.

"One minute!" they heard Paige say through the door. Johnny thought he heard another door open, but didn't see anyone else in the hall. After a few seconds, Paige opened the door and Jessie jumped up into her arms.

"Hi!" Paige said, "How was the beach?"

"I surfed," Jessie said to her. Paige could tell how proud she was of herself.

"She did, P!" he said, "She was up on her feet on her second run… very impressive stuff." He put his hand on Jessie's head and messed up the girl's hair. "Wow!" Paige said with a big smile. "You'll have to show me how good you are sometime!"

Johnny tried to take a step into her room to see if there was any sign of Mike. Understanding what he was up to, Paige shifted forward to block him.

She looked down at Jessie. "I'm so glad you had fun, especially since somebody would have been in a lot of trouble if you didn't like it." She kicked Johnny hard in the shin. Despite keeping her tone light in front of Jessie, Johnny knew that Paige was pissed.

"Oww, P!," he said. He rubbed the bottom of his other foot over the spot on his shin where she had kicked him. "We had a good time. Why do you gotta be like that?"

Paige opened her mouth to give him a smart reply, but was interrupted by Briggs. "House meeting in 5!" he yelled from the living room.

Paige shut her door behind her and walked passed Johnny to go downstairs, happy to have an excuse to walk away from the room.

Just as Johnny turned to follow her, he saw Mike walking down the hall between Paige and Charlie's room. "So when did you sneak out of her other door?" Johnny asked him.

Mike responded without missing a beat. "I was going over the case with Charlie. I don't know what you're talking about."

"So, you didn't sneak out through Paige's other door and then hide in the hallway to wait until we left?" Johnny was laughing and shaking his head, knowing very well that he had just described exactly what Mike had done.

"No, Johnny, I didn't," Mike replied harshly.

"Didn't do what?" Charlie asked, walking out of the bathroom further down the hall.

"HA!" Johnny said, throwing his head back. "Come up with a better cover story next time, Mikey!" He slapped Mike on the back before running downstairs.


	22. Chapter 22

Paige carried Jessie down to the living room. "Did Johnny give you breakfast?" she asked the girl. Jessie nodded.

"Are you still hungry?" Paige asked her. "No," she said softly.

Paige kissed the top of her head and sat on the couch next to Jakes. Jessie stared at him for a few seconds before simply telling him, "I surfed."

"You what?!" he said surprised.

"Johnny stole her this morning and took her out surfing," Paige explained with a bitter tone, "because that wasn't dangerous or anything…"

"How many times do I gotta say it, P?" Johnny yelled walking down the stairs. "It was good therapy. You should be thanking me," he said raising his eyebrows.

Mike ran down the stairs, followed by Charlie.

Briggs pulled up a chair in front of the couch. "I'm a better surfer than Johnny," he said casually to Jessie with a wink. "We'll go again sometime, ok?"

"But do you know who is the worst at surfing?!" Johnny asked her dramatically. Before the girl could respond, he pointed his fingers and threw his arms over towards Mike. "You are never allowed to surf with Mike…"

"Hey!" Mike said pretending to be offended.

"Ok, ok," Briggs said, now that everyone was settled. "We have a big day. Johnny is meeting Carlito downtown later."

Jakes chimed in, "Bus 118 comes in to the shop today around 2, so it should be at the passenger station in Sylmar around 1:30. There might be a tinkerbell on board."

"I already talked to FBI," Mike added, "when the bus gets there, the team will stall and hold the mechanics and the driver inside while we rip apart the bus."

"Who is following the tinkerbell?" Paige asked.

"Chuck, you got work today at the shop?" Briggs asked her.

"Yeah, but not till late tonight."

"Ok, so Jakes and Mike grab contraband at the bus dock; Johnny meets with Carlito; Me and Paige go to Sylmar and follow the tinkerbell," Briggs said.

Jessie tugged on Paige's arm.

"And…" Paige said to Briggs, pointing down to Jessie.

Briggs sighed, "One of us will make it home before Charlie leaves…"

"Can we hang out together today?" Charlie asked Jessie, looking over at the girl in Paige's lap. Jessie smiled at her and nodded.

"Jakes, will my guys have access to the shop equipment to rip the bus apart?" Mike asked him with an authoritative tone.

"Yes sir," he said sarcastically.

"Ok, well the coke is going to be lining the bottom of—"

"No," Jessie said cutting him off. "Just the barrels."

Paige looked down at her, "Have you seen the coke come out of the barrels?"

Jessie nodded. "He brings home eight of them in his truck and then Top helps him get all the bags out."

She had the attention of everyone in the room.

"Your dad?" Briggs asked her.

She nodded. "I'm not allowed to touch it," she added, "but sometimes they put bags in my room…" Her voice got softer as she spoke.

Paige ran her hand up and down the girl's arm. "Were the bags ever ripped open?" she asked.

"Downstairs," she said. She turned around in Paige's lap and gently fell into her. Paige wrapped her arms around Jessie's back.

"Paige," Briggs said calmly, "if she was exposed to…. We have to…" He was holding the blood draw kit.

Paige closed her eyes for a second and nodded. "Hey," she said to Jessie with an upbeat tone, "can you go pick out a book to read from your room and bring it down here?" Jessie nodded and Paige put her down.

"Come on," Johnny said to her, putting his hand out, "let's go find a really good one." Jessie was happy to see that she didn't have to go alone and quickly grabbed Johnny's hand before walking with him upstairs to her room.

"Oh, I have an idea," Charlie said to them heading towards the stairs. "I'll be right back."

"Look," Paige said to Briggs, "I agree that we need to see if she was exposed to coke and I get that the FBI wants genetic conformation, but I will not be responsible for putting another traumatic image in that kid's head."

"What choice do we have?" he said back to her, matching her tone. "You would rather have some stranger do it in an office somewhere?"

"…and she can't go out in public," Jakes added. Briggs and Paige both shot him a look and he put up his hands in surrender. "I'm staying out of this. I'll meet up with you later." He grabbed his keys and headed out the front door.

"Are you even good at this?" Paige asked him.

"More than you know," Mike said under his breath.

"Yes, Paige," he said too harshly, "I happen to have too much experience with finding good veins…" He exhaled and apologized.

"Wait—" Mike said, "Did they find evidence of heroin? Is she going to see a tourniquet and think we're giving her drugs?"

"No," Paige said, "I already thought of that. Top didn't have access to H when I first started buying from him."

Paige's eyes snapped over to the stairs when she heard footsteps, but it was Charlie. "Here," she said, handing Briggs a small bottle with a spray cap on it, "it's called emla. We use it at the tattoo shop when some 'tough guy' wimps out and can't handle the pain. It numbs skin."

Briggs sprayed it once on the back of his hand. "It's cold…" he said to himself. After a few seconds he tapped his finger on top of the spot where he sprayed and nodded. "Thanks, Chuck."

Johnny and Jessie were coming back down the stairs. "I'll explain it," Paige said to Briggs, "but I still refuse to cause more stress. We're stopping if it gets bad."

Briggs nodded, "It won't. You and Mike keep her still and distracted. It will take thirty seconds, max."

There were more footsteps on the stairs and Paige put her arms out to Jessie as Johnny led her back to the living room. The girl ran right over to her with the book.

"Which book did you bring us?" Paige asked her. Jessie held it up and Paige sat on the couch sideways with her back up against the armrest and her legs out straight in front of her. "Ohh, this looks like a really good one."

Paige paused for a second.

"Can Mike and Paul hold your hand and do something tricky with your arm to help you while we read?" Jessie squinted her eyes at Paige and shrugged her shoulders.

"Ok, are you going to read, or should I read?" Paige asked her. "Both," Jessie said with a smile.

Paige lifted Jessie up onto her lap and tried to have her sit back a little, without much success.

She ran her hand through Jessie's hair, partially to comfort her, and partially to get the girl to lean back up against her. When Jessie finally laid her head back on Paige's right shoulder, Briggs came over to them and sat on the coffee table.

Paige managed to get Jessie to put her legs out straight in front of her as she asked her questions about the cover of the book. She discreetly bent her own right leg so that Jessie's feet would fall onto the couch between Paige's knees. The agent then crossed her ankles, making Jessie's legs immobile.

When Paige went to open the book, she snaked her hand under Jessie's right arm and held the book up vertically so that Jessie couldn't see Briggs.

Briggs held the girl's hand gently and Jessie squeezed his fingers, sensing that something was up. Paige could see Mike opening the contents of the box. Paige put on a very animated tone and started to read, asking her questions about the pictures as she read to keep her mind engaged.

When she finished the page, Briggs grabbed the tourniquet. "I'm just going to put a tight bracelet on your arm, ok?"

Paige got Jessie to start reading the next page and Briggs impressively got the tourniquet on with one hand. She started to get fidgety and they could tell that she didn't like it, but she continued to read softly to Paige and held onto Briggs' hand.

Mike moved so that he was standing behind the girls and Jessie arched her head back to look up at him, still wiggling her arm to try and loosen the band. "Can I hear the story too?" he asked her.

She nodded and then went back to finish reading the page. Mike rested his hand on her right shoulder to help keep her arm still.

She heard a wipe pack tear open and shifted on Paige again. Briggs just kept moving his fingers back and forth over her hand. "It's just cold, kiddo."

When Paige turned the page there was a full size picture of a field with about a dozen flowers. "Can you count how many red ones there are?" she asked Jessie. The girl nodded and started to count out loud. She jerked her arm a little when she felt the alcohol wipe and shifted again when she felt the spray.

Briggs moved Mike's hand down so that he was pushing up on her elbow to prevent her from being able to bend her arm. Paige continued to distract her. Now they were adding up how many red and yellow flowers there were together.

She didn't even flinch when Briggs slid the butterfly needle into a vein in the crook of her elbow. "It's magic stuff," Charlie said smiling. With some help from Charlie, Briggs was able to switch out the vials with one hand.

When the second vial was almost full, he reached up and pulled the tourniquet off, passing it back to Charlie.

He put the vial next to the first one and carefully slid the needle out, putting it in the little plastic sharps case that had come in the kit. He put some cotton over the spot on her elbow and slowly bent her arm up. Paige made sure that Jessie's arm stayed tucked up against her chest as they finished the book.

Charlie wrote on the labels that had come in the kit and stuck them on the vials.

Briggs put the contents back in the box and threw the kit out in the garbage.

When Paige finished the book she kissed the top of her head. "You ok?" she asked. Jessie nodded, "Am I in the FBI now?"


	23. Chapter 23

Paige laughed to herself. "Did you know that I am not in the FBI?"

Jessie looked up at her with a puzzled expression.

"I am in the DEA, but I work with the FBI and help them a lot." She gently picked Jessie up and turned her around in her lap so that the girl was facing her. Paige quickly took the cotton ball out of the crook of the girl's elbow, hiding it from her before she saw the small bloodstain.

"Me, Johnny, Paul and Charlie are in the FBI though," Mike explained. He was now sitting by Paige's feet on the couch.

"And…" Jessie said, turning her head around to look back towards the front door.

"And Jakes works for a group called ICE. They help keep people safe too," Paige told her.

Jessie seemed to be satisfied with their explanation and looked up at Briggs as he came back into the living room.

"Did I hear you say that you wanted to be in the FBI?" Briggs asked her with a big smile. He was carrying some files and loose papers in his hand.

She looked at him with big eyes.

"Come here," Briggs said energetically. He walked over to the dining room table and laid some of the papers out.

Jessie started to climb off of Paige's lap, but needed some encouragement from her before she would walk over to Briggs.

Paige took her hand and Mike followed behind them.

"Do you know what a C.I. is?" Briggs asked her, sitting down at the head of the table.

Jessie shook her head and climbed up onto a chair close to him.

"Well it stands for 'Confidential Informant' –"

Paige cut him off adding, "it just means that you tell us information to help us stop the bad guys. We keep it a secret so that the bad guys don't know you've told on them."

Briggs took out a form from the folder. "The FBI wants us to make you a C.I. because you're doing such a good job helping us," Briggs said.

Jessie nodded and peered over at the paperwork as Briggs started filling out the form. "Do you know when your birthday is, kiddo?" he asked her, seeing the "date of birth" box at the top of the paper.

"June 15th," she said softly.

"Do you know what year?" Briggs asked her.

Jessie hesitated. "Did you just turn five?" Paige asked her. The girl nodded.

"So go with 2009," Mike said.

"I can count, Mike," Briggs said under his breath. He wrote a short description of how she was connected to the case.

Mike walked around the table and sat across from Jessie. "Can I ask you a question?" Mike said, making eye contact with the girl.

She nodded and tilted her head to the side.

"You said yesterday that the LAPD policeman would get angry and yell about some mistakes that happened." He hesitated to gauge her reaction before continuing. "Do you know what kind of mistakes they made?"

Jessie put her head down on the table. Briggs, Mike, and Paige were watching her.

"Did they forget to do something?" Briggs suggested.

Jessie shook her head. "He yells a lot of things," she said, still keeping her head down. After a few seconds, the agents didn't think she was going to say anything else, but just as Mike was about to speak, she picked her head up.

"I don't know what it means," Jessie said quietly, "but he yelled that Top and my dad 'cut him out'!"

Mike and Briggs shared a glance. "That's why this dirty cop let the house get raided. They stopped paying him," Mike said.

"It doesn't fit," Briggs added, shaking his head. "Solano Sr. is paying him, not these street-level pick up guys…"

"Not the coke…" Jessie said, putting her head back down, "the little blue books."

Paige jumped up from the table and ran upstairs.

"Barone and Top had a side business going on?" Mike asked himself. It didn't make sense. Why would this cop think he should get a cut of …?

Paige walked quickly back over to the table. "Books like this?!" she asked Jessie. She laid her US passport on the table. Jessie nodded and sat back in her chair, bringing her arms up close by her chest.

"My dad makes them," she said simply. She put her feet up on the chair so that her knees were pulled into her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs in a hug. "Katia wanted a book, but he said she couldn't have one yet."

"The cop didn't know about the passports…" Mike said to himself.

"He didn't know about the girls," Briggs added.

"Carlito was hiding the tinkerbells from his father?!" Paige said, picking the passport up off the table.

"We have to find this warehouse before he tells Carlos Solano," Mike said to her, "He'll shut it down. We'll lose everything…"

Briggs reached over to Jessie and cupped a few of his fingers under her chin, slowly picking her head up so that he could look into her eyes. He squinted at her, "How many books did your dad make, kiddo?"

"I don't know," she whispered.

"Like ten?" Briggs asked, "or like a hundred?"

Jessie shook her head and held up two fingers with her left hand.

"Only two?" Paige asked her, running her hand through the girl's hair.

Jessie nodded. "Every Saturday morning."

Briggs jumped up from the table and grabbed his cell phone.

"If there is a tinkerbell on that bus," Mike said to Paige, "you have to… we'll lose the case…"

Paige looked over to him with teary eyes. "We'll lose the girls."


	24. Chapter 24

"What did I miss?" Johnny said, trotting back down the stairs to the living room.

"Where did you disappear to?!"

"Researching for tonight, P!" he said to her, taken aback by her concern.

Paige wanted to scream at him, but she kept her voice as calm as she could. She didn't want Jessie to think that she had done something wrong by telling them about the passports.

Paige knew that if she acted anxiously, the girl would mirror her fear, and Paige didn't have time for that.

Mike stepped forward. "We don't have an exact timeline, but within the past forty-eight hours, the cop who has been protecting the Barone house found out about Carlito's trafficked girls…" He glanced over to Paige. "Which was apparently a side job…?" he added.

"Hold up, Mikey. You're telling me that Papa Solano didn't know about the girls?!"

"Nope," Paige said casually. "And he still might not…"

"We have no confirmation on whether the cop will share the intel or try to make this benefit him personally and keep Carlos Solano Sr. on the outside," Mike said quickly.

Johnny nodded, but felt as though he had been smacked in the face.

"So… you want me to find out from Carlito if his dad is going to shut down the warehouse?" Johnny put his hand over his mouth and tugged down on his chin.

Paige cut Johnny off before Mike could respond. "If Jakes and I see a tinkerbell – it's not shut down. Even if they've stopped with the buys, the girls are still being trafficked here. Carlos Solano won't let them go." She could feel herself getting emotional. "He'll kill them! It's not his money he's losing…"

Mike turned to Johnny. "Can you get him to do the pick-up?! We have his normal pick-up guys in custody…"

Mike was figuring out his plan as he gave Johnny the orders. "We will leave the contraband out after we document it. We'll set him up," he said with a glimmer of hope in his voice.

"I can try to get him to go," Johnny said shaking his head, "but he's too smart for that."

Paige moved closer to them. "Do what you need to do, Johnny. Get him there."

They looked over to the kitchen as Briggs put the phone back in his pocket and walked over to them.

"The cop on record for leading the raid is Sid Markham," Briggs said.

"That's our guy," Mike said.

Briggs nodded and then looked over at the dining room table. "Where is she?" he asked them.

Paige, Mike, and Johnny glanced over at him in unison, almost upset that he had changed the subject.

"Charlie went down to HQ with the blood sample and I'm pretty sure she didn't take the kid," Briggs said.

"She's right over –" Mike turned to the dining room table.

Jessie was no longer sitting in the chair.

"Did you see -? How did we miss -?" Paige was looking at Mike, but knew that her questions were rhetorical.

There was a slight moment of hesitation between the four of them.

"Closets," Paige said to them. "Closets and small spaces. They found her hiding in a closet two nights ago."

The four of them split up to search the house. Johnny ran into the kitchen and opened up all of the cabinet doors, calmly talking to the girl as if she was right in front of him.

Mike looked under the couch, remembering where she hid after she had spotted his gun the day before. When he realized that she had chosen a new place to hide, he scrambled around the rest of the living room and the foyer.

Paige and Briggs both headed for the stairs. "I'll take this floor," Briggs said to her. "You go see if she went to her room." Paige didn't respond, but kept climbing the stairs as he suggested.

Briggs slowly walked into Paige's room. He looked under her desk and under the bed, making cautious movements. "Are you in here, kiddo?" he asked gently. He didn't see any sign of Jessie, but he did notice that one of Mike's t-shirts was kicked under the bed-skirt.

He opened Paige's closet door and quickly realized that there was no way someone could hide in it. The pile of shoes was overwhelming, and the amount of clothing and purses stacked up would definitely block someone from getting to the back corner of the tight space.

He moved onto Mike's room. There was so little furniture that there really wasn't anywhere to hide. After checking the closet and the small en suite bathroom, he considered where else he should look.

He opened Johnny's door and instantly heard a small whimper. "Hey there," he said very gently to the open space in front of him. He didn't know where she was, but he knew she was upset.

He quietly walked into the room. "It's Paul," he said, trying not to make any loud or sudden movements as he checked under the bed and the couch in the corner. "Don't be scared." He kept his voice steady and calm.

He opened Johnny's closet and turned on the light. He exhaled and grinned when he saw that she was sitting in the back right corner of the closet, her head leaning up against some of Johnny's sweatshirts.

Briggs squatted down in front of her, but Jessie wouldn't look at him.

"What are you doing?" Briggs found himself asking her.

After a few seconds of no response, he reached out to her and rested his hand on the side of her head. He was surprised when he felt her lean into his palm. She started to cry.

"Shhh," Briggs said, brushing the hair out from in front of her face. "You're ok. You're safe."

She leaned forward slightly and reached her arm behind her, pointing to her back.

"Does your back hurt?" Briggs asked her. He ran his hand through her hair.

She nodded and looked up at him with pleading eyes.

"You know, Paige and Mike and Johnny are looking for you too. Should we go find them?"

Jessie didn't protest when Briggs moved his hands under her arms, which Briggs took as a cue to pick her up and bring her back to Paige.

He carefully lifted her up and Jessie fell softly into his chest. One of her hands grabbed onto his arm; her other hand grasped onto a piece of his shirt.

Mike was on his way up the stairs as Briggs made it back out into the hall. He yelled up to Paige to let her know that Briggs had found her.

Paige was relieved when she saw that Briggs was holding the girl. Jessie looked even tinier in Briggs' arms.

Paige raised her eyebrows at him. "Johnny's room," Briggs said to her quickly.

He walked over to Paige and Mike on the other side of the loft.

"Somebody wants you to know that her back hurts," he said to Mike.

Mike put his hands out, ready to take her from him.

"Do you want Mike to carry you?" Briggs whispered down to her. She shook her head and cuddled harder into his chest.

"I got it, Mike," he said walking past them to the stairs.

Mike and Paige followed him down the steps and Mike got the burn cream and some band-aids, figuring that they would be easier to use.

"Keep her just like that for now," Paige said to them. She helped Mike lift the back of Jessie's shirt up. The girl shivered when she felt the cold air on her back.

Mike took the old patches off to treat the burns and, with some help from Paige, managed to care for the burns on the back of her right shoulder without having to take her shirt off.

Mike pointed out the bruising to Paige.

"Does your side still hurt, Jessie?" she asked her. Paige gently moved her fingertips over the blue and green handprint marks on the girl's ribcage.

Jessie quickly shifted away from her touch, despite being held securely by Briggs, but shook her head no.

"Ok," Paige said with a sigh, "but let us know if it bothers you and we can give you some medicine to help." She lowered the girl's shirt back down and Jessie shook her head back and forth into Briggs' chest again.

"Where's Johnny?" Paige asked, turning to Mike.

"He went down to the beach to check..." he said. "I'll go get him and let him know." He put the burn cream on the counter and headed down the stairs to the beach.

Briggs carried her over to the couch and sat back against the corner cushions to make himself comfortable. He lightly kissed the top of her head and he could feel her start to relax.

"Does your back feel better?" he asked her. She nodded, but still held onto him.

"What made you runaway from us?" he asked her. Paige covered them with the blanket, curious to see if she would continue to give them intel. She couldn't figure out what they had said to make the girl run.

"Sh-she's… sh-she's," Jessie started to stutter. Her little frame was shaking and Briggs did everything he could to hold her tight without hurting her.

"Who, sweetheart?" he asked her.

"Paige said that he'll kill her."

Briggs could see tears now and looked up at Paige. The woman had her hand clasped over her mouth. Her eyes were wide as she racked through her brain to figure out what she had said to scare Jessie.

"Who will kill her?" Briggs asked, unsure if that was the best way to phrase the question.

"Solano will kill her," she said through some cries. "He'll kill Katia."

Paige sunk down onto the couch and wondered how she could have been so stupid to utter those words while Jessie was in the other room.


	25. Chapter 25

Paige walked out of the living room, leaving Jessie with Briggs on the couch. She was surprised at how well he cared for the girl, and she needed a moment to pull herself together.

She leaned up against the kitchen counter and took a breath. She was exhausted and knew that the day was going to be tough for most of her housemates.

The case was getting personal.

She opened up the refrigerator and took out some iced coffee for herself and a new bottle of the PediaSure. She could hear Johnny and Mike coming back up the stairs from the beach.

They were headed for the living room, but when Mike saw Paige out of the corner of his eye, he turned and made his way to the kitchen.

Paige could hear Johnny attempting to joke with Jessie about choosing to hide in his room.

Mike saw how defeated Paige looked. He took the two drinks out of her hands and placed them on the counter. He leaned back against the stone column that separated the kitchen from the living room so that he could pull her into a hug without Johnny and Briggs being able to see them. She laid her head down on his chest. "We were talking about Solano killing the girls…" Paige explained to him. "She figured it out…"

Mike nodded and kissed the top of her head. "We'll get the girls out," he said firmly, gently lifting her head up. "And Solano, and Carlito, and Sid." He softly kissed her in between each of the three names he listed.

He took a breath. "Johnny and I think that the person she identified as 'the rat' must be the one getting the passports to the girls before they get in the country."

"Isn't he in custody?" Paige asked him. She moved her hand slowly down the front of his chest.

"Not yet," Mike said with a sigh, "he wasn't at the house when Sid did the raid. Either this passport guy knew better than to go back there after Sid blew up in his face, or Sid took care of him himself."

He raised his eyebrows at her to get her to understand what he was suggesting about Sid's ethics. "The picture of this passport guy in the folder was taken a few weeks ago," he explained. "He has a history of being connected to the cartel."

Paige put her hands behind Mike's neck and softly kissed him. She wanted to linger in the moment, but pulled away and grabbed her coffee off of the counter when she heard footsteps.

"What do we have here, P?" It was Johnny. His grin stretched from ear to ear. Jessie was standing next to him, leaning her head up against the side of his leg with her arm hooked around his thigh.

Mike walked towards the kitchen table and Paige grabbed the vitamin drink. "Can you drink this for me, Jessie?" she asked, changing the subject.

Jessie nodded and took the open drink from Paige with her free hand. The girl took a sip and then looked up at Johnny.

"I have some time before I need to get ready for the meet," Johnny explained. "So if anybody cares to join us, we will be watching the rest of Frozen."

"Where's Briggs?" Mike asked him, noticing that the couch in the living room was now vacated.

Johnny rolled his eyes. "Doing Briggs stuff…" he said, "probably on the phone or channeling Buddha."

Paige squatted down in front of Jessie. "Have fun with Johnny, ok? I'm going to go get ready for work."

Jessie nodded as Paige moved past her and headed up the stairs with her coffee.

"Count me out too, John," Mike said. He was going through more files at the kitchen table and keeping himself busy.

"Your loss, Mikey!"

Johnny walked Jessie over to the couch and set up the movie to start where they had left off the day before.

They only made it about fifteen minutes into watching the film when Mike paused it and interrupted them.

"Mike!" Johnny whined to him like a little kid. "We were watching that!"

"The movie can wait, Johnny," he said quickly. Mike sat on the couch and smiled at Jessie. "Did anybody at your house ever talk about someone named Sid?" he asked her slowly.

Mike watched as her eyes got wide. She pointed to her own chest. "The cop with the letters," she said. Her voice was barely above a whisper.

He turned to look at Johnny. "If LAPD is there to catch Carlito tonight at the pickup, Sid will call him to tip him off. Can you get Carlito's phone so we can record the call? Carlito won't get the heads up and will lead you back to us…"

"No way," Johnny said plainly. He shook his head. "That is asking way too much, Mikey. I can't even promise that he will do the pick-up!"

Mike took a breath, stood up, and looked down at him. "You don't have a choice. If Sid is there, he'll make the call. Get Carlito there anyway." He hit play on the remote control and walked back into the kitchen.

Johnny exhaled loudly, but smiled when he saw that Jessie had placed her hand on his arm in an attempt to comfort him.

They were able to make it all the way to the end of the movie, and Johnny was very happy to see that Jessie had finished the vitamin drink.

His cell phone started buzzing and he reached in his pocket for it. He could hear another cell in the house buzzing as well. Johnny opened the text and stared blankly at it.

"Johnny!" Mike yelled from the kitchen, "Did you see the— ?!"

"Damnnn," Johnny yelled back to him. Briggs was running down the steps and Johnny assumed that he received the same text that was sent to Mike and himself.

It was from Charlie: "I'm still down at HQ. Joseph Barone just made bail. No name on the bail notice. Had a LAPD escort from the station."

"Where's Paige?" Mike asked frantically.

"I heard the shower," Briggs said while he responded to Charlie's text.

Johnny protectively pulled Jessie up onto his lap; Mike charged up the stairs to find Paige.


	26. Chapter 26

Mike clutched his phone in his hand as he made it to the top of the stairs. He walked down the hallway on his left and slowly opened the bathroom door.

Paige was in the shower rinsing shampoo out of her hair. She turned slightly, unknowingly making her body visible between the wooden slats that separated the showers from the rest of the space.

Mike couldn't look away, and for a brief moment, he forgot why he had gone into the bathroom in the first place.

"Paige?" he asked loudly, hoping that she would assume he had only just walked in the room.

"Enjoying the show, Mike?"

"Funny," he said sarcastically. "Charlie sent us all a text… apparently Jessie's father just made bail." He hesitated. "He's no longer in custody."

Paige shut off the water and stood in silence. She reached for a towel, wrapped it around herself, and stepped out of the shower.

"Solano needs someone to do the pick-up," she said. Mike could tell she was trying to keep the emotion out of her voice.

"But where would he bring it?" Mike asked her. "We seized the house."

"You think they would use the warehouse where the girls are?" Paige walked over to the sink and started to brush her teeth.

"No way. Solano doesn't know that place exists. That warehouse is all Carlito," he said.

Paige thought about his point as she finished brushing. She put her toothbrush away and turned to face him.

"Unless… Carlito is the only one arranging product transport." She took a step towards him; her mind was racing. "How could the FBI authorize his release? He was still under investigation!"

Mike was getting the impression that Paige was just now realizing how corrupt Sid was, and how it put Jessie in danger.

"Sid must have had them reduce the charges," Mike said quickly. "Maybe Charlie will tell us more when she gets back."

"But Sid is angry with Barone because of the passports and the girls… do you think Sid is going to hurt him?"

"No, Sid's revenge was tipping off the FBI about the house. If he helped with Barone's release, it's because he was told to do so."

Paige was deep in thought, wrestling with different scenarios in her head. "Do you think Sid knows about her? If he has a friend helping him at the bureau, could he know that she's a C.I.? Do you think they're going to take her?" Her voice was cracking.

Mike exhaled loudly and slowly moved towards her. Despite her hair still being wet, he pulled her into a hug.

"She's safe here," he said. "You know that our address isn't listed on any of those documents." He tilted her head up and stared into her glossy eyes before gently kissing her.

"She can't go back into that world," Paige said, shaking her head.

"We'll make sure she gets placed with a good family when this is all over."

He thought that he had said the right thing, but Paige's expression told him otherwise. Her eyes were glaring at him.

"She is not a puppy, Mike!"

She stepped back and Mike crossed his arms in front of his chest. "Paige, we've known her for about thirty hours. What did you think was going to happen after this case ended?!" His tone was slightly more agitated than he had wanted to sound.

She took a deep breath and looked down at her feet. "I don't know, Mike."

She walked past him out of the bathroom and went to go change.

After he heard her door shut, he walked across the loft to his bedroom. He reminded himself that he needed to focus on the buses and the contraband.

* * *

><p>For now, Briggs and Johnny figured that they had better not tell Jessie about her father's release.<p>

Johnny had carried Jessie into the kitchen and they were sitting on the bench across from Briggs at the table.

Briggs continued to fill out more C.I. paperwork while Jessie drew a picture. Johnny wasn't quite sure what she was trying to draw yet, but he noticed that she was taking her work seriously.

"Would it be ok if we talked some more about your house?" Briggs asked her.

She nodded, but continued to draw.

"Did your mom live with you?"

"She went away," Jessie mumbled. She switched out the marker for a new color.

"Did you want her to go away?" Briggs asked her gently.

Jessie shook her head. "No," she said sharply.

She slowed down the pace of her coloring. "She was sick."

"So Katia came after she went away?" Johnny asked her.

Jessie nodded.

"Why did Katia come live with you?" Briggs asked her. He tried his best to keep his tone light.

"To watch me and cook and clean," she said matter-of-factly.

"Did Katia like living with you?"

Jessie dropped the marker. "She liked me, but she was scared of them." She curled up into Johnny's side on the bench.

"Did they hurt her?" Briggs asked.

Jessie nodded again. "She cried…" The girl's eyes were getting watery and Briggs sensed that their conversation was ending.

He chose his words carefully. "Did you ever see them hurt her?"

Briggs and Johnny were relieved when she shook her head back and forth. "I hid."

There were footsteps on the stairs and the three of them watched Mike make his way into the kitchen. He treaded slowly when he realized that Briggs was questioning her.

"Besides the man who took Katia away," Briggs said, "did anybody else ever hurt you?"

Jessie held on tighter to Johnny and looked over at Mike. She gasped and slid under the table to hide from them.

Briggs looked at Johnny and Mike with a puzzled expression. What had he done wrong?

"Well, I guess that answers your question, Briggs," Johnny said. He pointed to Mike's hand and Briggs sighed.

"What?" Mike asked, looking down at his own hand. After a few seconds, he realized what Johnny was implying. He was holding his belt. "Did she think that I was going to-?"

Mike put on his belt while Johnny reached under the table. He was coercing Jessie into sitting back on the bench with him.

Jessie let Johnny lift her onto his lap and Mike sat down next to Briggs.

She looked Mike over for a few moments before giving him a piece of paper and a marker.


	27. Chapter 27

Briggs started to ask Jessie another question, but he heard the front door slam.

"I'm home!" It was Charlie. "Why are there pajamas on the chair by the bathroom?"

"Umm," Johnny yelled to her from the kitchen. "My bad, Chuck."

Johnny could hear her open the door to the laundry room and he assumed that she threw the clothes into one of the hampers.

She smiled when she walked into the kitchen and saw that Jessie had Johnny and Mike both drawing along with her. Briggs was writing a narrative on the paperwork.

"Where's Paige?" Charlie asked them. "Briggs, shouldn't you both be leaving soon?" She looked at her watch.

"Yep," Briggs said. "As soon as she gets down here we're driving to Sylmar."

"Did Jakes go back to the bus garage?" Charlie asked them. "His truck's not outside."

"Yeah, he was going to see if he could be put on today's shift to get better access to Bus 118 for when the team gets there," Mike explained.

"So you're heading over there yourself, Mikey?" Charlie asked.

"Looks that way, Chuck," he said.

Charlie looked over to Jessie's drawing. "What a beautiful picture of you and Johnny surfing, sweetheart."

"Ohhh," Johnny said comically, "I totally see it now." He looked at Charlie as if the woman had a sixth sense. There was no way she could have known that the picture was two people on a surfboard.

"Is that you and me?" Johnny asked Jessie. She turned around to look at him and nodded. "Oh, and that's my board? Huh… I didn't know my arms could be so long… or so purple."

Jessie smiled at him and picked up the blue marker. She did her best to fill in the bottom half of the picture.

"That's got to be the ocean," Johnny said laughing. He looked up at Charlie, "See? I'm good at this!"

She added some details to the water, which Johnny could only feasibly imagine were her attempts at some fish. She switched out the marker again and the four of them watched her write "Johnny and Jessie Serffing" at the top.

"Can I frame that?" Johnny asked her. She laughed at him and handed it over.

"I have a better idea," Charlie said. She took the picture and taped it to the refrigerator. "We'll decorate the fridge more later, ok?" she said to the girl.

Jessie nodded, but her eyes darted over to the stairs. Paige was dressed in jeans and a simple black t-shirt with her hair pulled back in a bun. Jessie wriggled off of the bench and ran over to her.

"Did I miss anything?" Paige asked the other agents. She scooped Jessie up in her arms, and the girl laid her head down on Paige's shoulder.

"Not too much," Briggs said. "I'll explain on the way over." He was already gathering his stuff together.

"You know," Charlie said to them, "You might all wind up at the same place tonight." She looked at Briggs. "You and Paige should end up at the warehouse, and then hopefully you can call in a TAC team. And if we're right about Carlito using the warehouse as storage for the contraband, then Johnny ends up there too."

"Jakes and I are tailing Carlito and Johnny," Mike added. "So, yeah Charlie, but do you still have to go to the tattoo parlor tonight?"

"Assuming that the plan works… I think I need to stay here, no?" She looked over at the girl, who was still clutching on to Paige.

"Call out sick, Chuck," Briggs said to her.

"Yeah, I'll call in a bit…"

"We should probably head out," Briggs said to Paige.

Paige held Jessie up in front of her. "Be good for Charlie, ok? You're going to have so much fun." She kissed Jessie's forehead and put the girl down. She watched as Jessie slowly walked back over to Johnny at the table.

He got her set up with another piece of paper and some markers.

Paige turned to walk with Briggs out to the driveway, but a little voice halted her footsteps.

"But you—"

"But what, sweetheart?" Paige turned around and was looking to Jessie for her to finish her thought.

She smiled at the girl and tried to keep her body language calm and patient, even though she knew that they were running late on the op. in Sylmar.

Jessie moved her eyes back and forth between Mike and Paige. "You forgot to kiss Mike goodbye." The words were said so innocently.

Briggs, Charlie, and Mike were silent, but Johnny was giggling.

Paige shut her eyes for a moment and took a breath.

"You kissed him goodbye yesterday," Jessie added, trying to make sense of how the adults had reacted to her observation.

"You're right," Paige said. "How could I forget to kiss him goodbye?" She confidently walked up to the table, placed her hand under Mike's chin, titled his head up, and kissed him hard on the lips.

With no hesitation, she followed Briggs out of the house. He knew better than to say anything.

As soon as the door slammed, Mike knew that the attack from Johnny was coming.

"Mikey, Mike! I knew it! You can't hide that shit from me!"

Charlie threw Johnny a look for having said a bad word, but Jessie didn't seem to notice or care.

"Ok, John, ok," Mike said, not amused at all by Johnny's tone. He assumed that Paige's kiss meant that they were on better terms. But then again, maybe she knew that leaving him with Johnny was revenge enough.

"I need to go prep the team for the bus op.," he said standing up from the kitchen table. He looked down at Jessie. "Am I supposed to kiss you goodbye too?" he asked her with a smirk.

She shrugged her shoulders and looked up at him. He chuckled to himself as he leaned down and kissed the top of her head.

He walked over to Charlie on his way out of the kitchen. "See if you can find out any more about the nightmares."

She nodded at him. "Don't let your feelings get the best of you today, Mikey."

He turned away from her and she swatted him with the back of her hand as he stepped out of the kitchen.

She looked back over at the table and saw that Johnny was still coloring. "Don't you have work to go get done?!" she said to him.

He playfully threw the marker down on the table and slid off of the bench. "I'm going, I'm going…"

Johnny trotted up the stairs to his bedroom.

"Are you hungry?"

Jessie looked over at Charlie and nodded.

"Me too," Charlie said with a smile. She took some items out of the fridge and started to make lunch for the two of them. Charlie moved her palm to her belly; she couldn't help thinking that she would soon be making lunches for her own kid.


	28. Chapter 28

Charlie and Jessie were eating lunch next to each other at the table when Johnny came back downstairs.

He walked into the kitchen, but stopped and stood behind the island. Charlie thought he looked somewhat distracted.

"Umm, Charlie," he said to her, "can I talk to you for a sec?"

"Sure."

Charlie rested her hand on the top of Jessie's head. "Stay right here, baby, ok?"

Jessie gave Charlie a strange look before nodding at her.

Johnny walked through the kitchen, out to the foyer, and Charlie followed behind him.

When he turned around to face Charlie, he didn't waste any time getting to his point.

"So, if they got Barone out – Carlito's gonna want him to do the pick-up! How am I supposed to get him there, if we don't need to be there, Chuck?!"

He was whispering, but his tone was harsh. Charlie could tell that his nerves were getting to him.

"Tell him that you want to be more involved or something," she said, trying to convince him that the plan would work. Johnny didn't look too impressed.

"Just get in with him at the club," Charlie continued. "Figure out what makes him tick. You'll find a way in, Johnny."

"But what if I-." He took a breath and lowered his voice. He could still see Jessie sitting over at the table out of the corner of his eye. "What if Barone _is_ there. How am I supposed to not hurt that son-of-a-"

"Hey!" Charlie said firmly, cutting him off. She put her hand on his shoulder and locked eyes with him. "You can do this. You want to protect the kid from Barone? You get Carlito to the bus garage and you don't screw it up."

Johnny ran his hand down the side of face.

Charlie sighed. "You're wearing a transmitter. Mikey will talk you through it tonight once they set up the barrels…"

He looked down at the floor before making eye contact with her again. "I don't need him," he said.

"I know you don't."

"If this whole LAPD thing turns out to be true…" he glanced back over at Jessie, shaking his head. "We can't let any of them come on the scene tonight as back up. I don't need no dirty cops there adding to the—"

"Briggs and I talked about that this morning. Clark isn't going to authorize them as back up."

Johnny stepped towards the door. "I think we deserve a sauce night after all this is over though, Chuck. Just sayin'."

Charlie smiled at him as he grabbed his bag.

"Think about it, ok?" he asked her playfully.

"Are you pretending today?"

Johnny turned around and dropped the bag when he saw Jessie sitting on the bottom step of the staircase. She was staring at his outfit, which was notably not very Johnny-like.

"You're so sneaky, you know that?" he said.

He walked over to her and lifted her up into his arms so that they were looking at one another face-to-face.

"Yeah, I have to go pretend to be a bad guy."

"To everybody?" she asked him.

He titled his head to the side. "Outside of this house, if we're playing pretend, we have to play pretend to everybody, even our friends."

She started playing with the collar of his shirt and avoided his eyes. "Even me?" she asked him quietly.

Johnny chuckled a few times and thought about what to say to her. "That's not gonna happen."

He scrunched up his face at her to get her to smile. He stopped though, when he considered how unstable Jessie's living situation was.

"Look at me," he said to her. She matched his more serious tone and stared into his eyes.

"If you ever see somebody from this house playing pretend to try and help you, you have to pretend too." He looked quickly to Charlie for approval before continuing. She nodded her head, giving him a weak smile.

He shifted Jessie in his arms and leaned forward so that their foreheads were connected. "You have to pretend that you never lived here – you don't know any of our names. You have to act like we _are_ the bad guys."

Jessie nodded, but Johnny wasn't convinced that she understood.

"But when the people in the FBI shirts come, or the real bad guys aren't around anymore, then we stop pretending," Charlie added, trying to make the scenario sound a little less tense.

Wondering if he took it a step too far, Johnny bounced her once in his arms and smiled at her. "But that's not gonna happen because you're safe here, ok?"

He kissed her cheek, and she let Johnny put her down.

He held out his fist. She looked up at him as she bumped her hand into his, and Johnny laughed when she made her fingers burst apart. "You remembered the explosion!" he said.

He picked his bag back up and started walking to the door. "Bye," she said softly.

He turned around and waved at her. "I'm probably going to get home really late, so I'll see you tomorrow, ok?"

Jessie nodded and walked over to Charlie. She wrapped an arm around the woman's leg as she watched Johnny leave the house.

Charlie took Jessie's hand in hers, and they walked to the kitchen to finish their lunch.

Sitting back at the table, Jessie went to take a bite of her sandwich, but after hesitating with it, she put it back down on the plate.

"What's the matter?" Charlie asked her. "I know you're still hungry."

"If Johnny finds Katia- she doesn't know he's pretending." The words were mumbled.

"No, she doesn't," Charlie said calmly. "But our job is still to help people, even when we're pretending."

Jessie gave Charlie a faint smile before finishing the rest of her lunch.

"Do you want to come up to my room with me?" Charlie asked her. "I have some work to do on my computer."

Jessie smiled at Charlie and finished her juice before getting up from the table. Charlie held her hand as they climbed the steps to her bedroom.


	29. Chapter 29

"Just say it, Briggs."

Paige was in the passenger seat of his truck, which had been parked outside of the Sylmar bus station for the past thirty minutes. Their small talk conversations hadn't displaced the awkward tension between the two of them.

"How long?" Briggs asked her.

"How long what?"

"Warren," he said.

She snapped her head at him. "How long is Warren!?" She gasped playfully and did her best to look outraged by his question.

"You know what I meant…"

She thought about how she wanted to answer him. "We got together a few days after he got back from DC," she said.

Briggs nodded and wrinkled his eyebrows. "Not during all of the Caza and Jangles stuff last year?" he said with some suspicion.

"Surprisingly, no…"

Briggs gave her a look as if he doubted her answer, but their attention shifted to the terminal as bus number 118 pulled into the station.

"Briggs, look!"

A tall skinny girl with dark hair had just stepped off the bus. She was wearing one of the pink backpacks that Jakes had seen in the video footage.

"I'm calling him," Briggs said. He looked down at his phone to find Mike in his contacts.

"Hey, Mike… The bus just got here so expect it in about twenty minutes…. Yeah, there was a tinker bell on board. Paige and I are waiting for her transp—." Briggs had turned his head to look at Paige, but the agent was no longer seated next to him.

"Shit, Paige!" Briggs slammed his hand on the dashboard.

"Wh-what happened to Paige?" Mike asked.

"She jumped out of the truck, Mike. She went after the tinker bell."

Mike hesitated. "Your priority is to follow the tinker bell," he said sharply.

Briggs was not surprised by his order, but knew that if he left Paige behind, she would raise hell.

"She'll make it back in time," Briggs said to him. "I'll call you when I see movement."

He hung up the phone and threw it down on the seat. He crossed his arms and stared out through the windshield, waiting for someone to accompany the tinker bell out of the building.

* * *

><p>Jessie and Charlie were up on the bed. The agent had her computer in her lap and there were papers scattered around the two of them.<p>

Charlie noticed that Jessie was having trouble keeping her eyes open. "What time did you get up this morning?"

Jessie didn't answer her.

"Do you want to take a nap?"

The little girl shook her head back and forth, but a yawn crept out of her mouth.

"Ok…" Charlie said, not believing her. "Why don't you just lay down then?"

Jessie nodded and slowly put her head down on the pillow behind her. Charlie lifted the comforter up a bit so that the girl could tuck her feet under it.

She went back to entering data on her laptop, but every time she glanced over at Jessie, she noticed that the girl was fighting harder and harder to keep her eyes open.

Charlie smiled at her and shut her computer. "Will you take a nap if I take one too?"

Jessie nodded and reached her hand out to Charlie. The woman moved some of the papers off the bed and pulled the comforter back more so that she could slide under it.

She propped herself up on her side so that she was facing the girl. Charlie was taken aback when Jessie grabbed onto a piece of her t-shirt. "You can sleep," Charlie said to her. "I'm right here." She ran her hand over Jessie's forehead a few times before letting her own head hit the pillow.

* * *

><p>"Come on, Paige…" Briggs mumbled to himself. He was still sitting in the truck. Bus 118 had pulled out a few minutes ago, but he wasn't sure how the tinker bell was going to be moved to the next location.<p>

He went to call Charlie to see how she was doing, but dropped the phone when he saw Paige running over to him. He stretched out his right arm to push open the door, and she climbed into the truck.

"She's from the Ukraine," Paige said. "She thinks she's going to work at a restaurant. Passport was a fake, but one of the best I've ever seen. She had a ticket to get on that bus. I told her we would follow her and meet up with her at the next station."

Briggs started the truck back up and circled around the parking lot so that they could get a better view. After a few minutes of waiting, Paige finally saw the girl walk over to the other bus. She could tell that the girl was anxious, but she boarded the bus with the backpack.

When it pulled out of the bus station, Briggs and Paige safely tailed it out on the highway into a more rural part of California.

"Do you want to call Mike?" Briggs asked her. He could tell that Paige was still riding a small adrenaline rush.

She went to grab her phone, but then stopped herself. "Not yet," she said.

"Are you thinking he's not going to like your plan?" Briggs asked her. "Or do you just not want to talk to him…"

"I don't know, Paul… both, I guess."

* * *

><p>Charlie shot her eyes open when she heard her cell phone buzzing. She reached behind her to grab it out of her back pocket. It was Clarke.<p>

She saw that Jessie wasn't holding on to her anymore, so she made her way off the bed and stepped out into the hall.

"Hello, assistant director," she said, trying to sound more alert.

"Agent DeMarco," he said, "I was just calling to get an update. Agent Briggs informed me earlier that you would be the one staying back today."

"Yeah, I'm at the house," she said. "The girl is doing well. She played a big role in helping us connect the pieces of this case."

"Well, that's the other reason I'm calling. Because you are making major decisions and calling in TAC teams based on the opinion of a five-year old, the agency would like to have her questioned by someone who is not acting as a caretaker."

Charlie peeked through the door at Jessie, who was still sound asleep. She thought about how much time and support it had taken to get her to feel safe and open up about the case.

"When?" Charlie asked.

"Today."

"Uhh, I don't think that's a good idea…"

"We will keep her separate from the suspects who are still in interrogation."

"If anyone in that building could recognize her, I—" she stopped herself. "Sir, I am not bringing her down there."

"Well, what do you propose then? I can't send someone to you."

"Well," she said, matching his tone, "you are going to have to trust her intel."

He took a breath. "I will go talk to the senior director again and see what I can do."

"Thank you, sir." She heard movement on the bed and opened the door a little more to see if Jessie was ok.

"I will call you back shortly," Clarke said.

"Thanks again," she said quickly. "Bye." She hung up the phone and immediately recognized that Jessie was distressed. She went over to her to wake her up.

It didn't take long for Jessie's eyes to pop open and for her to latch onto Charlie.

Charlie sat back up on the bed and pulled Jessie onto her lap. The girl immediately laid her head up against Charlie's chest.

"Can you tell me more about what makes you scared when you sleep?" Charlie kissed the top of her head and held her tightly.

"Closet," Jessie whispered to her.

Charlie considered her answer for a second before asking her another question.

"Like the closet where the FBI found you two nights ago?"

Jessie nodded into Charlie's chest. "Katia told me to hide in it when the bad stuff would happen…"

"Ho-how long were you in there?" Charlie ran her hand through the girl's hair. A part of her was hoping that Jessie didn't respond.

"A long time."

"Did you go in there when the FBI came?"

She nodded again. "They were really mad…"

Charlie tried to keep the emotion out of her voice. "When the house got quiet though, and they left, did you ever come out?"

Jessie shook her head, and Charlie couldn't stop the tear from sliding down her cheek.

"In your dreams… are you stuck in the closet?"

Jessie's hold on Charlie was tense. "Th-they're tr-trying to g-get in."


	30. Chapter 30

Johnny knocked on the door of the Solano house. He put his hands in his pockets and looked down at his feet, waiting patiently for someone to answer.

He could see Carlito walking towards him through the glass.

Johnny took a breath and pushed out his chest as Carlito opened the door.

"Johnny," Carlito said with a smile, "I am glad that you have decided to join us." He put his arm out, gesturing for him to step inside the grand foyer.

"It's good to see you too, Carlito," he replied awkwardly. Johnny walked into the living room and Carlito handed him a cigar.

Carlito sat back in an oversized armchair, and Johnny moved to sit across from him on the couch. "Uhh, is it just the two of us?" Johnny asked him.

"Lucia is upstairs," he said. "This is not a conversation for her." He took a slow long drag from the cigar, never losing his eye contact with Johnny. "Some friends will be joining us later tonight."

"Oh, ok," Johnny said. He was trying to keep his composure, but the tension surrounding Carlito's presence in the room was nothing like Johnny had ever experienced before.

He was thinking of what to say, but was saved by Carlito's cell phone.

"Excuse me, Johnny," Carlito said slowly, brushing past him as he stepped into the hallway to answer the call.

Johnny surveyed the room and tried his best to listen in on the conversation.

Carlito came back a few minutes later. Johnny thought that he seemed almost aggravated.

"Everything ok?" Johnny asked him.

"Yes, Johnny," he said clearly. He walked back into the space, but instead of sitting on the armchair, he moved to sit next to Johnny on the couch. "I have a, a friend, who helps me with business. He recently ran into a small problem, but we were able to… sort it out." He crossed his legs and leaned back casually. "But now, he is upset. He went back to his home and his daughter is missing."

Johnny did his best to hide his reaction. "Like she ran away or something?" he asked, trying to get more information from Carlito.

"No. She's small. He believes that the FBI has taken her. I assume he is correct, Johnny."

Johnny nodded and thought about whether or not Barone knowing that the FBI had Jessie would impact the case.

"But, you will meet him tonight." Carlito leaned in and brushed the back of his hand over Johnny's cheek. "He will be joining us at the club for some…" he pulled slightly on Johnny's bottom lip with his thumb, "fun."

* * *

><p>Briggs and Paige pulled into the station a few minutes after the bus unloaded.<p>

"Wait here," she said quickly to Briggs. She was already halfway out of the truck when Briggs reached out and grabbed her arm.

"Hey," he said firmly, "Give her the tracker and then come right back here. And then you're calling Warren because my phone's gonna die."

"I'll be right back," she said, ripping her arm away from him. "Watch to see who is coming to transport her. See if you can get a plate number." She stepped away from the truck and then turned. She smiled at him. "And then I'll call Warren."

Briggs watched as Paige ran into the bus station to look for the tinker bell.

Most of the people who were on the bus seemed to have left the station already. Briggs dialed Charlie's number and was relieved when the call went through.

"Hey Charlie… Yeah, Paige is at the next station getting the girl to take the tracker… The one from that op we did last week… She should be coming back out soon… This phone is going to die though and I'm pretty sure Johnny never returned my charger, so call her cell instead, ok?... See you later, Chuck." The phone went dead as he ended the call.

He frantically looked in the glove box for the car charger, but it wasn't there. "Dammit, Johnny!" he yelled, slamming the glove box shut.

He focused his attention on two men who were getting out of a minivan. One was wearing a cowboy hat.

"Come on, Paige," he mumbled to himself.

The men walked into the station. He felt so helpless out in the truck with no way to communicate. They didn't even have a wire on her.

He was not used to feeling removed from being in control.

Another few minutes passed before Briggs saw any movement. He thought he saw Paige coming back out of the station, but it was the tinker- no, it was Paige. She was the one wearing the backpack. She was the one being put into the minivan. She was the one being taken to the warehouse.

Without any time to process what he had just seen, Briggs put his truck in drive and took off after the van, thankful that he still had over half a tank of gas.

* * *

><p>Mike and Jakes had their men ready in mechanic uniforms to take the barrels off the bus. There were only four men total. The rest of the FBI team went inside in uniform to keep the actual employees busy.<p>

Jakes shut the garage door and turned to Mike. "This is all you, Warren."

"Ok," Mike said to his guys, "let's do this as quickly and efficiently as possible."

They undid the back hatch of the bus and Mike immediately saw the barrels. They worked together to load them off of the bus and onto a cement dock in the garage. Mike started laughing to himself after the last barrel was exposed.

"What?" Jakes asked him.

"Guess how many there are…"

Jakes just stared at him. "I can see how many there are, Mike."

"Eight. Just like she said…"

"The kid knows her shit."

Mike shook his head and smiled. He turned to speak to the team. "Ok, let's put this back together and get out of here. Jakes is staying on shift until everyone clears out for the day."

* * *

><p>Charlie did her best to get work done, but her mind was in another place. Her thoughts were running wild, torn between understanding how she was going to be a new mom, and not being able to assist in the field on this case.<p>

Jessie was rearranging some of her knick-knacks and books on the lower shelves. Charlie kept going through her housemates' plan, making sure that they had thought of everything. She needed them to come home tonight.

She glanced at her cell and thought of a detail that she hadn't confirmed with Clarke.

"I'm going to make a call to my boss, ok?"

Jessie nodded at her and pulled some more books off of the shelf.

Charlie stepped out of the room and dialed. "Hey, it's Charlie DeMarco again. For tonight's op, no one from LAPD is working back up, right?"

"No," Clarke said, "Briggs requested that there be no LAPD officers present at the pick-up." She could hear him flipping through some papers. "There is a detective though, with the LAPD, who is scheduled to help if a team is called to this 'warehouse site' that Agent Briggs mentioned."

Charlie widened her eyes when she realized who the detective was. "No, no, no, no," she said to herself.

"Excuse me?"

"You have to pull him off. We think he's connected to the case."

"How do you know he's connected?"

"Jessie drew a—"

"A crayon doodle is not going to convince me to change my site staff, Agent DeMarco."

"I understand that, but we think he's working with the cartel as protection."

"Until I have more evidence, I can't authorize the change. Call me back if you—"

"Ok, thanks," she said, feeling defeated. "Bye."

She dialed Briggs to let him know that Sid would be making an appearance later, but she was frustrated when he didn't pick up. Remembering what he said about his phone dying, she tried Paige's cell. No answer either. She tried Johnny. She tried Mike. She tried Jakes. Nothing.

She took a breath and thought about what Briggs had said to her. The tracking device would lead her to them.

She had a plan, but she didn't like it at all, and she hoped that Paige would call her back before she had to go through with it.

Charlie went back inside the bedroom and picked Jessie up in her arms. "We have to go upstairs to the phone room for a minute, ok?"

Jessie nodded and laid her head down on Charlie's shoulder as the woman carried her up the stairs.

Charlie smiled when she saw that the paperwork from the previous week's op was still out on the desk. She quickly found the paper with the serial number for the cell phone-tracking device they used and put it in her pocket.

She sat Jessie down on the desk and made herself eye-level with the girl.

"I think that the cop, the one who wears the letters, is going to sneak up on Paul and Paige tonight."

Jessie nodded at her. Her eyes got big.

"I tried to call them to warn them, but Paul's phone isn't working and Paige isn't answering hers either."

She thought really hard about how she wanted to ask the girl what she needed to say.

"I know where Paul and Paige are going, because they are following a girl who is wearing a little computer… and I can put this number," she showed Jessie the paper, "in my phone to see where that computer is."

Jessie looked down at her lap and then back up at Charlie. "We can go," Jessie whispered.

"But, I don't want to take you out of the house, sweetheart."

"We can go."


	31. Chapter 31

Briggs followed the minivan with intensity. He hoped that Paige was smart enough to keep the cell phone tracker. He knew she was.

The van got off the highway and Briggs took the exit as well. There were very few cars around, and he thought that his truck might be suspicious to the van driver, but he couldn't risk losing Paige. He knew that she was finding comfort in the fact that he was right behind her.

When the van turned down a dirt road though, he knew he couldn't tail them any longer. He stopped just past the turn and waited about five minutes before making a U-turn and continuing the tail.

He followed the road for a mile or so and was relieved to see the van parked at what looked like an out-of-use factory. He turned back around, not wanting to be seen, and parked the truck off to the side of the field.

He noticed that part of the compound was fenced in, but on his side, from the front of the building, there weren't any watch-towers or barriers. He needed to call in a team, but he needed to stay with Paige. "C'mon Mike," he said to himself throwing his head back, "make it happen."

* * *

><p>Charlie carried Jessie into her room and sat her down on the bed. She smiled when she saw that Paige's blanket was mixed in with the sheets. "Do you want to bring the blanket in the car?" Charlie asked her.<p>

Jessie nodded and reached behind her to grab it.

"Good, you hold onto it." Charlie grabbed her hoodie and helped her put it on. "You're going to have to wear your old shoes, ok?" Charlie got her a pair of socks and put the sneakers next to her on the bed.

"I don't always wear these ones," Jessie said to her.

"No?" Charlie asked, curious as to what she meant.

"The FBI guys found them."

Charlie thought she knew what Jessie was trying to say. "Well, I guess when you play inside all day, you don't have to wear shoes, right?" She kept her tone playful, but the girl's comment was pulling at her heart.

Jessie picked up the shoes and put them on slowly.

Charlie looked into her eyes. "Are you sure you want to go find Paul and Paige?"

Jessie just stared at her.

"We are going to try to get to them before the bad guys get there, ok? But I don't know how far away they are right now."

Jessie nodded. "We can go," she repeated softly.

Charlie took a breath and picked her up. "Maybe we should pack some snacks…"

They made their way back downstairs to the kitchen and Charlie put some water bottles and snacks into a grocery bag. She grabbed a jacket for herself and walked out to the driveway with Jessie in her arms. The girl was still clutching Paige's blanket, holding it in a tight ball up against her chest.

Charlie unlocked the car and Jessie climbed into the backseat of the sedan. The woman buckled her in and laid the blanket across her lap.

She shook her head as she started the car, still doubting her actions. Paige was going to be furious, but what choice did she have?

* * *

><p>When Johnny and Carlito got to the nightclub, the bouncer stepped aside to grant them access. Carlito led them over to a reserved table on an elevated part of the dance floor.<p>

Johnny took notice of the overpriced liquor and the men already sitting and waiting for them to arrive. They stood up when Carlito gestured to them. Johnny nodded to greet them.

"Johnny will be joining us this evening," Carlito said to them. He poured himself and Johnny two shots each.

Johnny reluctantly drank with the group. He hoped that the alcohol would help him get the courage to confront Carlito about the pickup.

"Your new recruit, Carlito?" one of the men asked. "The feds are watching me, I can't…"

"Ahhh, Johnny is…" Carlito said, "a friend." He looked at Johnny. "We are still gaining trust, no?"

Johnny stared into his eyes. "I trust you, Carlito."

"But you trust in fear." Carlito stood up and took a step towards the dance floor.

Johnny jumped to his feet. "I'm not afraid of you."

Carlito halted and turned on his heels to face Johnny. "I will talk to you outside."

Johnny thought that they were going out the exit by the bathroom, but was taken by surprise when Carlito pulled him into a vacant storage closet.

Carlito slammed Johnny back into the wall. "What do you know? You dare say you are not afraid of me. You do not know what I'm capable of, Johnny." His hold was aggressive, but his eyes were searching.

"Let me come on the pick up." He saw Carlito hesitate. "I want to show you that you can trust me." Johnny nodded at him and didn't break his eye contact.

Carlito changed his tone. He licked his top lip and put his hand on the wall beside Johnny's head.

Johnny couldn't process what was happening fast enough. He repeated over and over to himself that he was undercover. If Carlito was making a move on him, he needed to follow along.

He tried to imagine what Paige would do in this situation. Or Charlie. He smirked, somewhat in disbelief, when he realized how he should react to Carlito's body language.

"Come with me," Johnny said. He doubted Carlito was often accepting of someone else giving him an order, but he needed this to happen. He leaned his head forward, off of the wall as if to tempt him. "Just you and me," he said.

Carlito kissed Johnny's lips with a fever. "I like the sound of that, Johnny."

* * *

><p>Mike waited patiently with the TAC team at a construction site about half a mile from the bus garage. They were watching the movements at the garage closely, and were just waiting for one more person to leave before they went back to set up their surveillance.<p>

He looked down at his phone. There was a text from Johnny: "It worked. See you soon."

"Ok," Mike yelled to the team, "plan is a go. We move out in ten."

* * *

><p>Johnny led Carlito back out to the dance floor.<p>

He could tell that Carlito was drunk, but he didn't care. He still couldn't process that he had kissed a man, but he didn't care. He had arranged the pick-up, and that was all that mattered.

Two of the guys from their reserved table joined them near the bar.

"So you going to the pick-up, or what?"

Johnny smiled at him and grew a bit taller. "You're Joseph Barone, right? Carlito's told me about you." Johnny knew that Carlito couldn't hear what he was saying over the loud music.

"And yet, he has never mentioned you…" Barone replied with some cheek.

Johnny ignored his implication. "I heard you mention that the feds are watching you."

Barone reached towards the bar. "Do you see me in prison, Johnny?"

Johnny's fist was itching, but he shook his head and smiled at the man. "Anything I need to know about the pick-up?"

"The garage will have it arranged," he said. He took a shot of tequila.

Johnny looked around for Carlito, but realized that he had gone back to their table.

"Hey," Johnny said to Barone, leaning his head into the side of the man's head, "I heard you had some trouble with your kid. Everything good?"

Johnny watched as the man's body tensed. Barone took hold of the tequila bottle with an enraged fist, and for a second, Johnny thought he might slam it to the ground. "Johnny, we sadly live in an era where our government kidnaps children."

Johnny nodded his head. He was glad that he was starting to feel tipsy from the drinks Carlito gave him earlier. It gave him some emotional strength. "Kidnapping?" Johnny said, hoping that he sounded dumbfounded enough.

"Oh, don't worry," Barone said to him. He tapped his index finger against Johnny's chest. "I will be getting her back. And when she tells me who kept her away from me all this time… I will murder them."

* * *

><p>The man in the cowboy hat dragged Paige into the compound. She tried to hide her smile…<p>

She had seen Briggs' truck in the rearview mirror during their drive. She was certain that there would be a team on standby within the hour.

Fear took control though, when she recognized the man who met them at a second entranceway. It was the man who had given Jessie the anxiety attack, who was responsible for burning her. His handprint was marked into her side as a constant reminder of Katia's traumatic departure – the man from the picture in the folder.

"Let's go, pretty." He reached out and aggressively claimed Paige.

Paige pulled away from him on instinct when he dug his nails into her forearm.

"Oh…" he said laughing. "A fighter? I already have too many of those." He snapped his fingers and the two men who had driven Paige to the warehouse took hold of her and forcefully carried her to a small white room.

They threw her onto the ground to leave her with the man… what did Mike say his name was? Sollan? Sullen?

"Come back for the camera in five minutes," he said to one of the guards.

"Yes, Sulla," the guard replied.

Sulla. That was it. That was the name Mike had mentioned.

"Take off your clothes."

"I know nothing," Paige said. She was getting nervous. She felt so naked already without her gun, but had the phone tucked into a pocket on the inside seam of her shorts.

"Off!" Sulla screamed. He kicked her in the side and she reluctantly slid her shirt over her head.

Paige did her best to hide herself while he took the photos. His demeanor only made her stronger. Her motivation to take him on was unparalleled. It only occurred to her in that moment that Katia might be somewhere within the compound.

* * *

><p>"Do you want to lie down?" Charlie looked into the backseat at a sleepy Jessie. It was getting dark out and according to her GPS, she still had another few miles before she would catch up to the tracking device.<p>

They had been driving for a couple of hours; much longer than Charlie had anticipated. She knew that they were still somewhat close to the bus station though, which was just north of Sylmar.

Jessie nodded at her and managed to lie on her side in the backseat of the car without unbuckling her seatbelt. Charlie looked into the rearview mirror and smiled when she saw the girl snuggle into Paige's blanket.

"We're almost there, ok?"

Jessie yawned. "Ok," she said softly.

Charlie's phone alerted her of her next turn, and she followed a dimly lit dirt road. She hit the brakes when she spotted Briggs' truck.

She turned onto the grass and drove up next to him. She saw him sitting patiently in the driver's seat and he turned to look at her when she shut off her engine.

Charlie leaned forward, to look past him at Paige, but no one else was in the car. She realized that the team hadn't even started setting up yet. It had taken her longer to find Briggs than she had expected, and she was sure that the team would have gotten there by now.

Briggs stepped out of his truck and opened Charlie's passenger door, sliding in to sit next to her in the front of the sedan.

"Where is Paige, Paul?"

Briggs sighed. "I don't know what went down at the last bus stop, but-"

"Where is Paige?" Her voice was getting angrier. "And what happened to the tinker bell?"

He closed his eyes. "Paige... _is_ the tinker bell."

Charlie was speechless.

"My phone's dead. I couldn't even call it in."

"This... This is bad, Paul."

He raised his voice at her. "This is not my fault." He pointed his finger at the compound. "SHE made the decision to go under without ANY conformation whatsoever, and I-"

"Where's Paige?" The voice was soft and dripping with innocence.

Briggs could hear little movements behind him. Charlie recoiled and he snapped his head around to look at the backseat of the car.

"You didn't," he said to Charlie.

"Clarke said that Sid is assigned to back up the team tonight if this got called in," Charlie explained. Briggs could hear the tremors in her voice. "What- what, Paul, was I supposed to do?!"

"Where's Paige?" Jessie asked again. Charlie could tell she had only heard pieces of their conversation as she drifted in and out of sleep.

Briggs reached back and ran his hand across the girl's forehead. "She is helping save some very scared people."

Jessie nodded, satisfied with his answer, and cuddled into the blanket, closing her eyes once more.

"Give me your phone." Briggs turned back to look at Charlie.

"But Sid is-"

"I know," he said. "It's perfect."


	32. Chapter 32

Johnny followed Barone out to the back parking lot behind the club.

"You coming with us?" Johnny asked him.

"Nahh, I don't think Carlito would want me to interrupt with your… training." He winked at Johnny.

"Oh, no man, no, it's nothing like that." Johnny did his best to convince Barone with his body language that he was not romantically involved with Carlito.

Johnny looked out into the street, but still didn't see the truck. Johnny needed to change their topic of conversation. He got an idea. "So, uh, what's your plan for finding your kid?" He tried to make the question sound like small-talk.

Barone shrugged his shoulders like it was no big deal. "I have an in with the police; I'll find the foster home." His face was emotionless.

"You think that's where they put her?"

"What else would they do with her…" he said. "They're idiots."

"Yeah, yeah, I guess you're right," Johnny added quickly. "I don't really know how any of that foster care stuff works, so…"

"The feds think they can have control over my family. I am the one in control." As the aggression crept into his voice, Johnny immediately imagined Jessie, hiding in some small corner in fear of what he would do to Katia or herself. He shook his head and tried to erase the image from his mind. He was brought back to reality when he heard Carlito pound on the horn of the 18-wheeler.

Johnny watched the truck pull into the lot. He did everything in his power to not to break Barone's face, but Johnny's fist was itching to strike.

"We should uh," Johnny mumbled, "get together soon. Celebrate when you get her back."

Barone put out his hand to Johnny. "I'm sure our paths will cross, Johnny."

They shook hands and Johnny turned to climb up into the truck.

Johnny shut the door and put on the seatbelt.

"Joseph likes you," Carlito said abruptly.

"Ex-excuse me?"

"As a businessman, Johnny." Carlito reached over to him and placed his hand on Johnny's thigh. Johnny forced himself to smile at him.

They turned out of the lot and sped off onto the highway, headed for the bus garage.

* * *

><p>Overall, Mike was pleased with how his team had set up the surveillance and support for the drug pick-up.<p>

Jakes had been told by his boss where to put the barrels so that they could be "disposed of" when the garbage van arrived. Jakes knew the comment about the contents being "garbage" was bullshit, but he was grateful to find out where they needed to be set up for Carlito.

Mike had gotten help earlier to put tracking devices on each of the bags in the barrels. He was now waiting, from a distance, with his team to grab surveillance on Johnny and Carlito. They had considered arresting Carlito at the pick-up, but wanted to see if he would lead them to a new drop off point.

He felt his cell buzzing and expected to see Johnny's name, but when he looked at the home screen, he saw that it was Charlie. He immediately felt a sting in his gut. What was wrong with Jessie? Why would Charlie be calling him now?

"Charlie?"

"Mike, it's me," Briggs answered. "My phone's dead and Johnny has my charger."

"How do you have this cell—"

"There's a reason I'm calling you, Mike."

"Briggs, where is Charlie?" His heart was pounding. "Where is Jes—"

"Charlie spoke with Clarke. She couldn't get him to call off Sid…. He's coming Mike. Tonight. Charlie couldn't get ahold of me or P, so she followed the tinker bell's GPS tracker."

"She WHAT?!" He stormed away from the team at the bus site and started pacing in the parking lot.

"Mike. Listen."

"Where is she?! Where's Jessie?!"

"She's right behind me, Mikey. Out cold on the back seat. We're parked away from the warehouse." Briggs reached out to Charlie, and she grabbed his hand.

"So Paige is-is with her, right? Jessie's… ok?"

"Well, Mike, that's the reason I'm calling."

"What reason? Briggs?" Mike could see the 18-wheeler pull up to the garage. His attention shifted from the Briggs to Carlito.

"Mike, something happened at the second bus station. The tinker bell wouldn't go through with it, Mike. Paige—she, she took her place."

Mike was speechless. He was trying to listen to Briggs, but was focusing with his binoculars on the barrels. He identified Johnny and Carlito Solano, and watched as they transferred the cocaine to the truck.

"Mike?! Can you hear me?!"

"Uh, yeah." He stopped and tried to recall what Briggs had said. Something about Paige taking the place of…

He felt like he had been slapped in the face when he processed what Briggs had said.

"Where. Is. Paige?" Mike asked. He was fuming.

"Mike, I'm staring at the building. She's under as one of the girls. It was her decision. Let's see where Carlito takes the coke and then we'll go from there. We'll get her out tonight." Briggs spoke with a steady voice, partially to keep Mike calm, and partially to prevent Jessie from waking up in the back seat. He was still holding onto Charlie's hand.

"Tell Charlie to get Jessie out of there. Go back to Graceland."

"I really don't want to send them back alone. And then I have no way of contacting anyone. I can't leave Paige, Mike."

"I know. I know. Ok, well–"

"Mike, I got this. Did Johnny get there yet?"

"Uh, yeah." Mike focused his attention back on the truck. He squinted when he saw Carlito push Johnny up against he bumper. He couldn't believe his eyes. "Briggs, you're not going to believe me, but, Carlito and Johnny are making out."

"Mike, cut it out. This is not the time to be messing with me."

"No, Briggs, I'm serious. I think Carlito's... gay. I-I need to hang up. I'll call Charlie's phone back when we're tailing them."

"Sure thing, Mike."

"Oh, and Briggs?"

"What, Mike?"

"Keep the girls safe for me." Mike could feel that Briggs was smiling through the phone. Briggs knew he wasn't talking about the trafficked women.

"You got it, Mike," he said.

Mike hung up the phone and Jakes came running over to him. "Did you see what I just saw?!"

"Yeah… crazy shit," Mike said. He was still trying to process what Briggs had told him about Paige and Jessie.

"Johnny's never going to live this down," Jakes said. He shook his head and started laughing.

"Briggs called. Apparently Paige went under as the tinker bell. She's in the warehouse with the girls. We have to get her out. Tonight."

Jakes shook his head and rolled his eyes. "I don't even wanna know how that happened. We'll get her out, Mike. Briggs is there with a team, right?"

"Well, that's what I thought too, but he never called it in. Said something about not having a cell." He paused. "Charlie found out from Clarke that Sid was on the case. She packed Jessie up and the two of them drove out to find Briggs and Paige… to warn them."

"Damnnnn," Jakes said. He ran his hand down the side of his face. The two of them snapped their heads over at Carlito's truck when they heard the engine start up.

Mike felt a surge of energy pulse through his body at the movement of the 18-wheeler. "Alright!" he yelled to the small team. "We're moving out!" They packed up the area and loaded into the vans to follow the truck and tail the drugs.

For as much as Mike wanted Carlito to stay away from Paige and Jessie, a part of him was hoping that Carlito would lead him right to them.

* * *

><p>Paige was given new clothes, a grey tank top and some cotton shorts. She hastily changed and was led out into an open common room. She counted twelve girls and wondered how many more were scattered in holding rooms throughout the compound.<p>

The guards walked away and Paige sat down next to some of the older girls on the beat-up couch. She waited a few minutes before leaning her head over towards the girl sitting next to her.

"Hi," she whispered. "Is someone here named Katia?"

The girl looked at her with big eyes and nodded. She pointed to a frail-looking teenager who was sitting on the floor with her knees tucked up into her chest.


	33. Chapter 33

After learning which girl was Katia, Paige moved cautiously over to her and sat beside her on the floor. She looked over at the lone guard to make sure that he wasn't interested in their conversation.

"Hi," Paige whispered to her, "I'm here to help you. Is your name, Katia?"

Katia turned her head away as if she was scared of Paige.

"How you know…?"

Paige kept her voice low. "It's ok. I know that you stayed at the home of Joseph Barone as a worker. I know that he abused and assaulted you."

Paige reconsidered her choice of words when she saw Katia start to cry.

"Who are you?" the girl asked.

"My name is Paige. I am with the police. My friends will be here soon to help you."

"No, no," Katia stuttered. "I cannot be in trouble with Sulla. I stay here."

Paige took a breath and looked into the girl's eyes. "We have Jessie," Paige told her. "She's safe."

Katia's entire demeanor changed. She wanted to believe the new woman, but it couldn't be true. "No," Katia said to her, "this is a trick."

Paige shook her head. "No, no trick. She is safe. We found her when we got control of the house. She lives with the police." Paige held Katia's hand. "She talks about you... You took care of her. You loved her."

Katia squeezed her hand around Paige's fingers.

"You are a hero," Paige said to her.

Katia's eyes looked conflicted as she did her best to hold back tears.

"My friends will be here soon to help everyone." Paige explained. "I need you to stay with me, ok?"

Katia nodded and Paige stayed with her, sitting on the floor, waiting for Briggs to burst in with the team.

* * *

><p>Briggs had called in the TAC team after he had hung up with Mike, but the team couldn't set up until Carlito drove the truck into the compound. Briggs knew that if Carlito spotted the vehicles, he'd be spooked and would turn around.<p>

He had gotten confirmation from Clarke that the team was waiting a mile away, ready to move in when Briggs notified them. Mike's team from the bus garage would be joining them as well.

Briggs and Charlie pulled their cars into the tree-line a little bit more so that they would be out of sight. It had gotten dark quickly and they couldn't risk keeping the cars or lights on, in case they could be seen from the warehouse.

After turning off the jeep, Briggs moved back into the passenger seat of Charlie's sedan.

Her phone was buzzing.

"That's got to be Mike," Briggs said to her. He took the phone and answered the call.

"Mike, where are you?"

"We're a few minutes out. Paige was right, Briggs," he said. "They're headed for the spot where Charlie's signal is coming from. Carlito should be there any second. We're following the trackers from the drugs so that we could keep our distance."

"Ok, I'll call in the other team after the truck moves—" Briggs cut himself off. He watched the 18-wheeler speed across the field. "Carlito and Johnny are here. He's headed right inside the fence, Mike."

"Ok, ok," Mike replied. "I'll tell Clarke's team to go in; we will be right behind them."

"See you soon." He hung up the phone and handed it back to Charlie.

Briggs jumped in his seat when Carlito pulled on the truck's horn. The noise was irritating, and Briggs was nervous that Jessie would be startled by it. He and Charlie both turned their heads to check on her, but were relieved to see that the girl was still asleep.

The compound had stadium lights shining down on the truck, and Briggs could see two men getting out of the cab in the front. A few other men came out of the warehouse to help them with the contraband.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Charlie asked Briggs.

"What?"

"If those guys are storing drugs, they're not watching the girls," she said.

"You think Paige is gonna make a run for it?"

"I don't know. Keep your eyes open… but it would be a hell of a lot easier to do this take down if there were less guards inside."

They watched as the FBI team drove across the field without their headlights. They parked about fifty yards from where Briggs and Charlie were. Altogether, the team had two vans, four smaller cars and two ambulances.

"Do you think Sid knows that it's Carlito? Do you think he's here?"

"If he put the effort in to get himself on that list… he's here. He probably knows more than we do… I'm going to go check in with Mike."

Charlie leaned in to kiss him. "Be safe, Paul."

Briggs got out of the car and walked over to Mike and Jakes.

Mike was rushing to get on one of the bulletproof vests.

"You ok, Mike?" Briggs asked him. He gently rested his hand on Mike's shoulder.

He looked up at Briggs as though the answer was obvious. "I'm getting Paige out," he said. He checked his gun and his holster. "Where's Jessie?"

Briggs nodded over towards the tree line. "Charlie's car," he said. "Chuck's staying with her."

"Does she know...?"

"Kind of..." Briggs told him. "She knows that Paige wasn't with us in the car," he said sarcastically. "...I told her that Paige was helping other people."

Briggs took the vest that one of the other agents handed him and started to prep himself to take down Carlito and Johnny.

Mike nodded. "Yeah, ok."

"Hey, did you see Sid anywhere?" Briggs asked. He was looking over Mike's shoulder at the members of the arranged team.

"Not yet. The LAPD back-up is on its way."

"Unless he's already here." Briggs looked over at the warehouse. The men had been unloading the truck for about ten minutes now. They must be close to finishing. "We need to move in, Mike."

Mike nodded and gathered the team. "I'm going in to get the girls. You stay with Jakes and the team on Carlito." Briggs nodded and walked over to Jakes.

Mike was about to head out with the formation of agents, but doubled back into the van for an extra vest and a second gun.

* * *

><p>When Paige heard the truck horn, she knew that her time was limited. She also knew that she was right about where Carlito would take the drugs. Many of the girls in the room look startled, especially when a few of the guards ran down the hall out to the truck.<p>

But if Carlito was here, that meant... Mike was here too. A grin snuck onto her face when she realized that they would soon be reunited.

Paige didn't want to act until the FBI team made it inside. She held onto Katia's hand and did her best to reassure the girl that she would be ok.

Katia jumped when she heard the door kick in. The TAC team, wearing bulletproof vests and carrying aimed guns, filed down the hall towards them. Seeing the intruders, the girls started to scramble away.

Paige stood up to try and keep them calm. "No, they will help," she repeated to them. She was gesturing with her hands for them to stay in the room.

Most of the agents continued on through the building, but a few stayed with the girls.

"Paige."

Her eyes darted over to him. Mike was the last person in the line of agents.

He quickly walked over to her and handed her the vest. "Here, put it on."

He watched her take the vest and he let his eyes move down over the front of her body. He took notice of how she was dressed and saw some marks on her forearm.

"Are you ok?" He ran his hand down the side of her arm. She looked up at him after she had tightened the straps.

"You're not mad?" she asked him.

"Paige, how could I be mad at you?" His voice was sincere, but she could tell by his tone that he was worried.

She took the second gun from him. "I'm sorry for what I said this morning. You're right. How could we keep her? I wasn't being realistic." She shook her head and looked down at her feet.

He reached out and put his fingers under her chin, tilting her head up so that he could look her in the eyes. "Hey," he said gently, "we will work it out."

He considered telling her that Jessie was outside in Charlie's car, but he needed Paige to cooperate with his plan and he was nervous that she would try to deviate from it if she was concerned about Jessie's safety.

Mike looked around the room and surveyed the layout. "Do you know where Sulla is?"

"No," Paige said, "I thought he went outside with Carlito."

Mike nodded. "Let's hurry," he said.

He and the three other agents, along with Paige, got the girls to stay with them as they made their way out of the warehouse. Paige made Katia keep one hand on her shoulder so that Paige would know where she was.

Paige stayed close behind Mike as they inched their way down the hall. He turned back to look at her. "Who's your friend?" He asked the question somewhat comically.

"Mike," she whispered to him, "it's her. It's Katia."

He widened his eyes and did a double-take to look back at the girl. "You're sure?"

Paige leaned forward to speak into his ear. "Yeah, Mike. I'm sure."

"But she's so..."

"Young?"

"Yeah."

They got to the door and the agent in the front kicked it open and started to escort the girls outside. There were other agents waiting to lead them over to the vans.

* * *

><p>Charlie could hear Jessie stirring in the back of the car. Once the FBI had announced their presence, the amount of noise on the compound had increased.<p>

Her cell phone started to go off and, in hopes of keeping Jessie asleep for a little while longer, she got out of the car and took a few steps away from it before answering the call.

"Hello?"

"Hey, it's Jakes. Just wanted to let you know that we have the contraband secured."

"And Carlito?"

"Yeppp. He and Johnny are are in a lover's quarrel... in matching metal bracelets."

She laughed out loud at his remark. "Glad to hear it, Jakes."

"You ok, Chuck?''

She was about to respond, but froze when she heard gunshots, followed by a bloodcurdling scream.

Charlie ended the call and ran out towards the FBI team to try and see what had happened.

Her eyes scanned the over the scene.

She saw Paige on the ground. Mike was laying on top of her, acting like a shield.

The girls had scattered, many of them were led to the vans, and she saw an FBI agent she didn't recognize laying in a pool of blood.

Behind the dead agent stood Sulla, the man from the photos that had scared Jessie.

He was holding a... "Oh no," Charlie said to herself. He had pulled one of the girls over to him and had the gun pressed against her temple.

Sulla aggressively held her close and marched forward toward the FBI vehicles, tempting the agents. He pushed the barrel of the gun into the side of the girl's head.

When the FBI didn't react the way Sulla wanted them to, he started screaming threats at them, yelling about what he had done to the girl.

Charlie could hear the hostage sobbing. It carried on for a few minutes.

Some of the agents had started to surround Sulla and the girl.

Charlie could see that Paige and Mike were now standing behind him, their weapons aimed at the back of his head.

"Let Katia go," Paige yelled at him, "or we will shoot you!"

Sulla laughed at her comment and moved his hand across Katia's chest.

"You like this one?" he yelled to Paige. He started groping the girl. "I like her too!"

"Do you have the shot, Mike?" Paige asked him.

"I got it!" he yelled.

Charlie was waiting for Mike to make the shot when her eyes spotted a small shadow that was moving quickly towards the agents.

It couldn't be.

Charlie looked back at the car. The side door was open and Jessie was gone.

The shadow was Jessie. She was sprinting across the field to Katia. She was almost there.

Charlie ran after her. "MIKE! DON'T SHOOT!"

The gunshot pierced through the air in slow motion. Mike saw Jessie running over to them as he made the shot. It threw off his focus and the bullet sliced through Sulla's inner shoulder instead of his skull.

Mike watched as Sulla and Katia both fell to the ground.

Jessie threw herself down onto Katia.

Mike had tears in his eyes as he looked over to Paige.


	34. Chapter 34

Paige's world went mute.

A swarm of agents came running. One man knelt by the FBI agent who had been shot; a few others ran over to Sulla's body.

Paige stood frozen, trying to understand what she had just seen. Why was Jessie at the site? What had happened while she was under in the warehouse?

"Paige!"

She could see Mike's lips moving, but the sound was warped. Her feet were immobile.

"Paige! She needs you!"

Mike was hovering over Katia, trying to pry Jessie off of her. The little girl was screaming and kicking.

"PAIGE!" Mike was in distress. He had been the one to shoot.

Jessie looked up at her for a moment and when Paige saw the look on the girl's face, she dropped her gun and bolted to them.

She and Mike worked together. Paige hooked her arm under Jessie to pull her up into the air and Mike grabbed her kicking legs. They moved a few paces away so that Katia could be treated.

The EMTs rolled Katia onto a backboard and were assessing her wound. The bullet had gone through Sulla and had struck Katia in the back. Paige didn't know if there was a second exit wound.

Jessie was treating Paige and Mike as if they were strangers; she forcefully tried to break away from them and they struggled to restrain her in their arms.

"Mike!" Paige cried. She lifted the palm of her hand up. It was wet.

He tucked both of Jessie's legs under one of his arms and placed his free hand on the girl's chest.

Jessie wriggled away from him, crying and screaming, as he pushed his hand up against her torso.

He pulled his hand away and looked at his palm. It was bloody. "I can't tell if it's hers," he said to Paige.

She looked down at Katia on the board. "We have to get Jessie away from here," she said to him.

"Give her to me." Mike took Jessie from Paige and pulled her tightly up against his body. He had one arm locked around her back, holding her arms still, and the other wrapped around her thighs. He started walking over to rest of the FBI team.

Briggs and Charlie were running past them now, towards the victims.

"We'll stay with her," Charlie said, gesturing over to Katia.

Briggs looked at Mike and Paige and then pointed to an ambulance across the field. "GO!" he screamed at them.

Mike picked up his pace, running to the ambulance with Jessie tight in his arms. Paige was right behind him.

He did everything in his power to not start crying. The girl was still screaming through her sobs. Mike didn't know what to say to her. Would she even listen to him? Did she know who was carrying her?

He ran over to the back of one of the ambulances and saw that the door was swung open. There weren't any paramedics inside- they had all run over to help the gunshot victims. He jumped up into the back of the vehicle and tried to lay Jessie down on the bed.

"Lie down. It's ok." He repeated the words over and over, but when Jessie felt Mike letting go of her, she reached her arms around him and grabbed onto his shirt. He didn't know what to do. He looked out of the back of the ambulance and saw that Paige was close.

She climbed up into the rig, and for a brief moment, Paige and Mike locked eyes. She could see the fear and guilt dripping down his face.

Jessie screamed again when Mike tried to lay her down. Her breathing was heavy and they could both hear that she was starting to hyperventilate through her cries.

Paige put her hands over Jessie's arms, trying to force her to let go, but it only made the anxiety attack worse.

"Did it ricochet?!" Paige asked him. Her eyes were glossy and she could feel the lump growing in her throat.

"I can't tell if she's in pain or not." Mike leaned forward and bent himself down over the bed so that Jessie's back was flat on the mattress, but she still wouldn't unwrap her arms from around his ribcage. The top part of the stretcher was locked in the upright position, but Jessie was so small that she fit on the bottom half of the bed.

"We have to see it," Mike said. He tried to make his voice sound gentle, but it came across in a panic. "We have to see if you're hurt."

Paige moved around him so that she was by Jessie's head and put her hands on the girl's shoulders to hold her down. Mike put one hand on Jessie's knees to keep her from lifting her legs off the bed. He reached behind him with his other hand to try and force her to let go.

She was furious about being restrained and Paige knew that the stress was too much for the little girl to handle.

"Look at me!" Paige said to her. "Look right at me!" Paige was inches from her face, trying to get her to make eye contact. "Mike and I are going to help you, and Charlie and Paul are helping Katia."

When Jessie heard Paige say the name, she shot her eyes up. Paige thought that moment might have been the first time Jessie realized that it was she and Mike who had been holding her down.

"Okay?!" Paige said. "The bad guys don't have Katia any more. We're helping her." Paige was now running one of her hands over Jessie's forehead. The girl had stopped fighting them off, but was still shaking on the gurney with her fists gripping onto pieces of Mike's shirt.

Paige smiled at her and nodded. "You helped us save her." It was working.

Mike slowly let go of Jessie's legs and grabbed onto her wrists tightly. He moved his thumbs back and forth over the tops of her hands and slowly pulled her arms away from his body. He moved her hands so that they were resting on the bed up by her ears.

Paige understood what he wanted. She was able to hold both of Jessie's hands with her one free hand, and moved them a bit further up on the bed so that her arms were gently stretched out behind her head.

"You told us where the bad guys would be and how to find the other scared girls." Paige continued talking to her and tilted Jessie's head back slightly so that the girl's attention wasn't on Mike. Jessie's eyes were lost in Paige's words and in the praise.

Mike hadn't completely realized how bloody her t-shirt was until then. He looked around and saw an open medic kit on the bench behind him. He easily found the trauma scissors.

He cut Jessie's shirt from the collar all the way down to the bottom seam and then cut through the top of each sleeve so that the front of the shirt could be covertly removed without her realizing.

He immediately began searching for any cuts or entrance wounds with the pads of his fingers. The blood that had soaked through the shirt was now starting to dry, and Mike was realizing that none of it was her own blood. Jessie twisted away from the prodding, but having her arms up over her head kept her somewhat stationary.

"Anything?!" Paige asked him.

"No… I don't—" Mike pressed his fingers into her sides, looking for an entrance wound in her ribcage. "I don't think any of the blood is hers…" He looked up at Paige and was finally able to take some normal breaths.

"Check her back," Paige said to him quickly.

They were able to roll her onto her side so that she was facing away from them, and Mike pulled the rest of the shirt away. The small bandages he had put over the burn marks were still there, but there wasn't any blood or other markings.

"Is she ok?!" A young paramedic had stepped up into the ambulance.

"The blood's not hers," Paige said to the woman.

"It's an anxiety attack," Mike explained.

"Keep her just like that for a second," the paramedic said to them. She quickly took the stethoscope from around her neck and listened to Jessie's lungs. Mike and Paige did their best to hold her still while she was lying on her side, but she was squirming away from the cold metal on her back.

The paramedic pointed to the band-aids and the bruising. "Cigarettes… domestic violence," Mike said under his breath to her. He couldn't tell the woman how they knew that, or that he and Paige lived together, or that Jessie had been in their care... He assumed that she noticed Paige had been undercover though. Under the bulletproof vest, Paige was still wearing the clothes that Sulla had given her.

"Umm, do you know how the… hostage is doing?" Paige asked her, changing the topic. She knew that the bullet had gone through Sulla and into Katia, but she didn't want Jessie to understand what she was asking.

"Critical condition," the paramedic said. "The helicopter is on its way to transport her."

"But she's—?"

"She's alive." The woman took the stethoscope and moved it around to Jessie's chest. The little girl moved her head down to try and see what was going on, but Paige continued to softly tilt her head back.

"Heart sounds are good, but there's stress on her lungs," she told them. Mike and Paige laid Jessie down on her back again, and when the girl saw the stranger, the tears come flooding back.

Mike gave the woman a look. "Would it be ok if you…"

She smiled at him. "Yeah, I'll give you some space." She reached behind Paige and grabbed the oxygen mask off of the wall. "Put this on her; it will help. I'll be right outside if you need any assistance."

Paige smiled at the woman and thanked her. As the paramedic left, Paige lifted Jessie up into her arms. She could feel her shaking and knew that she was probably cold.

Paige jumped up onto the bed and sat back with Jessie curled up in her lap. She tried to put the elastic strap of the oxygen mask around her head, but she wiggled out of it. Paige settled for just holding the mask close to Jessie's face.

"Hey, is everyone ok?" It was Briggs. He was standing just outside of the ambulance, looking up at the three of them.

"For the moment," Mike said.

"You, uh, you killed him, Mike. It went through his chest cavity."

"And into someone else," Mike added, still clearly upset about his shot.

Briggs stepped up into the ambulance and Paige realized that he was holding the purple blanket from her bed back at Graceland.

"I had to run to the car for something and I, uh, thought she might want this," he explained. He saw the blood stains on Mike's vest, but Mike just pointed to the pieces of Jessie's shirt on the bench behind him.

Mike took the blanket from him and covered the girls. Briggs looked over to Paige on the bed. "Charlie brought it in the car for Jessie when they—"

He stopped talking when he saw Paige's reaction.

"Is that how she got here?" Paige asked in a monotone voice.

"Clarke told her that Sid would be here and she couldn't get a hold of me… or you," he added darkly.

Paige wanted to scream at him.

Briggs looked back at Mike. "Can I talk to you outside?"

"Yeah, just give me a second."

Briggs nodded and jumped out of the ambulance.

Mike put his hand on the girl's forehead. Jessie had closed her eyes; the exhaustion had somewhat stilled her. Paige held the oxygen mask as close as she could to the girl without it touching her face so that she wouldn't fight it off.

Mike didn't know what to say to Paige. His emotions were scattered and he knew that she was raw as well. He looked into her eyes and moved his hand up, resting it on Paige's cheek.

"I'll be back in a few minutes." He took a breath. "And if I remember correctly, I'm supposed to kiss you goodbye."

He leaned forward and passionately kissed her. After a few seconds, he gently pulled away and touched his forehead to hers.

He stepped out of the ambulance to find Briggs, but when he turned to walk towards the FBI team, someone else caught his attention.


	35. Chapter 35

Mike kept his eyes on a police car across the field as he walked up to Briggs outside of the ambulance.

"Hey," he said, letting Briggs know that he was ready to talk.

"You ok?"

Mike loudly exhaled and looked up at him. "Yeah, I will be. So Sulla's dead? Did they finish sweeping the place?"

"They're working on it... yeah, he's dead-"

"And Solano?!" Mike was going through all of the connections in his head, trying to make sure that everything had gone smoothly, well, except for the injured hostage and the murdered agent.

Briggs smirked at him. "Yep, Jakes is escorting him and Johnny back down to HQ. We will separate them once they get there so that Johnny can come home tonight. Carlito can try to deny that he didn't know his storage was acting as a trafficking facility, but I doubt any judge is going to..."

Mike started to laugh. "Yeah, that would be a pretty big stretch. So, we got the girls, we got Carlito Solano, now all we have to do is get-" He gestured over to the LAPD unit that had come to support the FBI as back up for the take down.

"Yeah, that's what I wanted to talk to you about. The only reason Charlie came out here with Jessie was to warn us about Sid, but then Sid didn't interfere with anything."

"That we know of," Mike said skeptically.

Briggs shook his head. "Something's not right."

"Do you think that Charlie got the wrong information from Clarke? Maybe Sid pulled himself off when he learned that Carlito was coming here?"

"Maybe, Mike... It just seems a little odd."

"Should we go introduce ourselves? See if we recognize anyone from the folders?"

Their conversation was interrupted when the medical helicopter descended down onto the field. Briggs and Mike could see the paramedics preparing Katia to be transported.

Briggs looked back at the ambulance behind him and then over to Charlie's car. "Why don't you take Paige and Jessie back to Graceland? Drive Charlie's car." Mike seemed hesitant, but Briggs knew what to say to him. "Our main orders were to protect the kid, right?"

Mike liked the idea of taking the girls home and getting some sleep, but as the lead agent on the bus case, he felt like he should stay.

Briggs could tell that he was still thinking it over. "Go, Mike," he yelled to him; the helicopter had landed and the noise was deafening. "Trust me, you'll get to play boss tomorrow when you get to fill out all of this paperwork!"

Mike raised his eyebrows at him. "You sure?!"

"Yeah, I'll bring Charlie back in my truck! Jakes is going down to the station with the team, and Johnny has a free ride all the way back downtown in handcuffs!" He chuckled at the thought.

Mike nodded at him. "Thanks, Briggs!"

Briggs handed him the keys to Charlie's car and then started to walk away, but Mike stopped him.

"Hey- Briggs!"

He turned around to look back at Mike.

"Thanks for uh, keeping up with Paige today! You, uh, you saved her life!"

Briggs smiled at him. "That's what family does, Mike. Now, go!"

Mike trotted back over to the ambulance and looked up into the rig. He smiled when he saw that Paige's eyes were closed too. Despite the helicopter, the sirens, the blood stains, and the oxygen mask, Paige and Jessie still managed to look so peaceful in their embrace. They were wrapped up tightly in the blanket, and he realized that they both needed some better clothes.

He saw that the paramedic was still sitting just a few feet away from him.

"Can I ask you a favor?" he yelled over to her.

She stood up quickly and nodded.

"Could you go to the FBI unit stationed over there and tell them that Mike wants two jackets, and then bring them back?"

She nodded and gave him a small thumbs up before running out to the van. Mike looked back towards the helicopter as it took off violently into the sky and then jumped up into the ambulance.

Paige's eyes fluttered open when she felt the movement. Mike walked over to her quickly. He moved the palm of his hand over her forehead and down the side of her face. They sat in silence for a few minutes, enjoying their quiet reunion.

"Is everything ok out there?"

"Yeah, they just airlifted her," he whispered. "We're going to take Charlie's car back." He looked down at Jessie and smiled. "The three of us."

"What about Sid?"

"He can wait," Mike sighed. He chose to steal Briggs' words. "Our orders were to protect the minor." He playfully used the phrasing to get Paige to understand that he had already made up his mind.

Her face softened and Mike leaned in to kiss her forehead gently. They took a breath in unison and Mike trailed kisses down her face, lingering when he reached her lips.

He pulled away when her heard coughing. He looked down at Jessie in Paige's arms to see if she was ok, but she was still asleep with the oxygen mask close to her face. Mike realized that it was the paramedic who had coughed.

"Sorry," Mike said blushing. He assumed that kissing another agent, who had a traumatized kid in her arms, in the back of an ambulance on an undercover operation site was probably not the most professional thing to be doing.

She took a step forward and handed him the two jackets. They were identical large navy jackets with bright yellow lettering. Mike smiled at the woman and thanked her.

"Are you sure you don't want to have her checked out at a hospital?" she asked them.

Paige ran her hand through Jessie's hair. "No-" she said sweetly, "I think we just need to get her home."

"Of course," she said back to them. She walked over to the bed and listened to Jessie's lungs again before taking the oxygen mask back from Paige. "Just keep her relaxed and make sure she's eating well."

Paige nodded and tried to sit Jessie up more so that she would be easier to carry. Mike took one of the jackets and guided Jessie's arms into the sleeves; her hands didn't even make it halfway down to the cuff. He saw the dried blood on her chest and realized that they would need to clean her up somehow before they could let her sleep in a bed.

He zipped up the front of the jacket and bent down so that Jessie's head could rest on his shoulder. He wrapped one arm under her and lifted her up so that she fell into his chest.

Paige took off the vest and was grateful to have the jacket to put on over the thin tank top that Sulla had made her wear. She grabbed the blanket and followed Mike.

Paige looked down at the letters on her jacket as they stepped out of the ambulance. "No one from the DEA tonight?" she asked him.

"No, don't think so," he whispered. Jessie was still asleep in his arms. They walked out towards the tree line to Charlie's car. "You couldn't have called them in, and none of our guys would have... why? Are you not loving that beautiful FBI jacket right now?"

She laughed quietly at him. "Just curious..." she said. "I have to admit though, Jessie looks really cute in your jacket."

"Well it's not mine, per say," he said. The jacket fell down past the girl's knees and practically engulfed her altogether in his arms.

"She earned it." He smiled at his own remark. "She'll grow into it," he added.

They made it over to the car and Mike unlocked the back door so that Paige could climb in and make herself comfortable.

She took Jessie from him as he lowered her down into the car. Paige thought she may have woken up briefly, but after whispering some sweet phrases to her, she stilled and cuddled into Paige.

Mike climbed into the front and started the car up.

"Yes!" Paige whispered excitedly to herself.

"What?!" Mike said. He turned his head around and rolled his eyes. Paige had found the snack bag.

"So you're not angry at Charlie then?" Mike asked her.

The smile fell from Paige's face. "I don't know," she said. "If things hadn't worked out the way they did. If anything had happened..."

"Well, something did happen," Mike added, referring to his shot.

Paige sighed as he drove back out onto the road. "Going under today wasn't in my plan book either, and I know that it threw everyone off too..."

Mike looked at her through the rearview mirror. She was eating a banana that she must have found in the bag.

He turned onto the highway, continuing to check on Paige and Jessie in the back seat every few minutes.

"What time is it?" she asked him.

"About ten," he said. "We should get back to Graceland around midnight."

She nodded and he noticed her eyes getting droopy. "Try to sleep, Paige."

He watched her lean up against the window and shut her eyes.

He hadn't been this determined to drive back to Graceland safely in a long time, and he needed these two hours to process what kinds of decisions he would be making about his life now that the bus case had ended.


	36. Chapter 36

Mike pulled into the driveway of the dark house. He turned off the engine and could hear the waves crashing onto the beach in the silence. He knew that the girls were both still asleep in the back of the car.

He did his best to get out of the front seat and shut the door without being loud, but when he pulled on the handle of the back door, Paige's head fell to the side, following the movement of the glass. Mike quickly put his hand out to catch her, but the sense of falling had woken her up. She seemed startled, so Mike leaned in and kissed her.

"I'm up. I'm up," she whined in a whisper. The kiss made her think of waking up in Mike's bed two mornings ago when he had used a similar tactic to lull her from sleep. "Are we back?" She blinked a few times to adjust.

"Let me take her," Mike said. He smiled when he saw that Jessie was still wrapped up in the men's FBI jacket. She was clutching the purple blanket in her sleep. Paige helped him rest the girl's head on his shoulder so that he could lift her out of the car. He flipped the blanket around her so that it covered her back.

Mike held her with one arm and reached his other hand out to Paige.

She climbed out and shut the door before letting her hand find his. She slowly moved the tops of her fingers down his palm and interlocked their hands together. He squeezed back before leading her up the stairs into Graceland.

The house was dark and eerily quiet.

Paige turned on a few lights so that they could see, never letting go of his hand.

"What's your plan?" Mike asked her. "I know you've had a-"

"We both had a bad day." She cut him off firmly. "You don't need to be gentle with me..."

Her tone of voice made his eyes light up.

"What about...?" He cocked his head to the side and looked down at Jessie. "We can't ethically put her to bed like this. She's covered in someone else's bl-"

She cut him off again. "I know. I want to keep her asleep though."

Mike smiled at her, thinking that she wanted to play.

Paige read his facial expression and immediately knew what was on his mind.

"Not that, Levi." She was shaking her head at him, but now she was smiling too. She lowered her voice a bit more. "I don't want her to see the blood." She pressed her hand up against the side of his chest.

"I'm shocked she's made it this long without waking up," he said.

"I don't think she's slept well in weeks," she whispered. "She finally heard someone tell her that Katia was safe. She thinks her father is locked away."

"You're right," Mike added. "This is probably the best sleep she's had..."

She softly kissed him before turning around and walking upstairs with her arm outstretched behind her, forcing him to follow.

Paige paused at the top of the steps and let go of his hand. "I'll meet you in the bathroom. Go fill the tub." Her tone was commanding him.

He glanced at her quizzically as she stepped away from them and walked into her own bedroom.

Mike looked down at Jessie and kissed the top of her head. "I will buy you all of the ice cream in the world if you don't wake up tonight." He whispered the words and quietly laughed to himself, shaking his head back and forth.

He walked into the bathroom and was grateful that the light was on a dimmer so that it wouldn't be too bright. He turned on the hot water to start the bath and slowly pulled the blanket off of Jessie, dropping it onto the counter next to the sink.

"Hey," Paige whispered, walking into the bathroom.

Mike turned around and felt a pull in his stomach. He was clearly not prepared for her reappearance.

Paige was wearing a string bikini. It was his favorite one. Granted, she didn't know it was his favorite one, well, at least he didn't think she knew.

Paige noticed that he was taken aback by her change of clothes. "Well, I'm not getting in the tub naked," she whispered harshly.

"I didn't... think you were?!"

"So you had a better plan? I don't want to drop her. I thought the plan was to keep her asleep?"

Mike smiled as he watched her cross the room over to him. "Let's get one thing straight," Mike whispered quickly. "I have no problems with you wearing a bathing suit. Ever. But you tricked me..."

She carefully took off Jessie's shoes and socks, placing them on the counter.

"I did no such thing, Michael Warren."

She shut off the water and got a new washcloth off of the shelf. She took out her hair-tie and remade the bun so that it was higher up on her head.

Mike had pulled Jessie away from his body enough so that he could unzip the FBI jacket. It fell off of her pretty easily and he winced at the sight of the girl's chest.

Paige was able to slide off the rest of Jessie's clothes; Mike was eager to pass the girl to Paige.

He followed her over to the tub, and once she sat in the bath, he knelt down and placed the girl in Paige's arms.

They both froze, their breath stopping, when Jessie started to whimper.

Paige sat the girl sideways in her lap and ran the warm washcloth over her chest to prevent her from shivering. She whispered to her and held her close, encouraging her to go back to sleep. Jessie never opened her eyes, and when they saw the girl relax again, they knew that they had been successful.

Mike handed her some body wash and walked over to the other side of the bathroom for a clean towel.

Paige was able to scrub the blood off faster than she had anticipated. She didn't bother washing the girl's hair, and she tried not to get her head wet. When she was satisfied that the girl was cleaned up, Paige used her free hand to rinse the soap off. She looked up at Mike, who had the towel open in his hands, ready to take Jessie back.

"We have to be quick," Paige said to him. "She's not going to like the cold."

He nodded, and as Paige lifted Jessie up out of the water, he grabbed her with the open towel. He wrapped it around her so that it covered her from her shoulders to her ankles and held her up against his chest. He couldn't help watching Paige as she stood up in the water.

"No towel for me?" She stepped out of the tub and tried to look disappointed.

"Oh, yeah, here," he started to move back over to the shelf, but she stopped him.

"I'm kidding, Mike," she said, walking over to get one for herself.

She wrapped the towel around her and tucked it into itself over her chest so that she would have two free hands. She took Jessie from him and let the little girl's head fall onto her shoulder.

"Do you think Briggs and Charlie will be back soon?" she asked him.

"I don't know," he whispered. "I'm thinking we have at least another hour or so."

"I like this quiet version of Graceland," she said smiling. "I'm going to change her and put her down upstairs. Is the watch still on the table?"

He nodded. "Yeah, turn it back on."

She grabbed the blanket and started walking out of the bathroom, but stopped when she heard him trying to get her attention.

"What?" she whispered.

"Uhh, your room or ...?"

She smirked at him. "I'll find you."

Paige carried Jessie up the stairs and laid her down on the full size bed, keeping her wrapped in the towel. She was somewhat proud of herself for being able to dress her without waking her up, a skill she didn't think she had inherited from her own mother.

Jessie whimpered a little when Paige positioned her under the covers, but Paige tucked the purple blanket in the girl's arms, and she stilled again.

Paige kissed her forehead and switched on the transmitter before leaving the bedroom. She left the door cracked open a little and made sure the hall light was on to act as a kind of nightlight.

She could feel her heartbeat quickening as she got to the bottom of the staircase. She heard the shower running and followed the sound.

The tables were turned. She was now the one staring at him through the wooden slats in the shower.

Paige was mesmerized, watching the water hit his shoulder blades, the drops tracing him as they moved rhythmically down the rest of his body.

She took off her towel and reached behind her to pull out the hair-tie, instinctively snapping it onto her wrist.

She walked over to the shower and stepped in behind him. She gently slid her hands over his hips and he jerked forward in a reflex.

"Found you," she said.

"I can see that..."

He turned around and reached his hands behind her neck, pulling at the strings of her bikini top. The fabric fell forward, revealing her to him. He quickly undid the back clasp and she caught the top in her hand. She helped him with the bottoms and placed the suit pieces on the side of the tub.

He put his hands under her elbows to stand her back up. "Turn around." He moved her so that she was facing away from him, the water from the shower bouncing off of her chest.

He put some shampoo into his palm and rubbed his hands together before gently kneading it into her scalp. "You scared me today, you know," he said softly into her ear. He moved his hands down, massaging the soap into her shoulders. She pushed herself back into his hands. He knew she was loving it.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"No." He kissed her neck. "You were amazing."

He continued to wash her back, bringing his fingers down and then sliding both of his hands forward around her ribcage to her stomach.

The smell of the shampoo complimented his scent and she allowed herself to rest her head back on his chest, letting the water fall down onto her face. She leaned up against him, forcing him take on some of her weight.

He quickly moved his hips back, embarrassed by his reaction to her presence, but she noticed his hesitance and reached her left hand behind his body, hooking it around his thigh to pull him forward and keep him still.

She tried to think of a witty comment, but decided against using words. She placed her right hand over his and slid his fingers down past her stomach, giving him permission.

He held her securely with his left arm wrapped around her ribs. After a few seconds, Paige let go of his leg and reached both of her hands up, latching her fingers together behind his neck to make herself more vulnerable.

She looked up at him and he let her pull his head down so that she could kiss him. Paige moaned as his hands moved methodically. She couldn't keep still and it made him flex his pelvis forward.

She could feel him more now against the small of her back. She pushed up onto her tiptoes to lead his right hand down even further. His fingers were making her unsteady; he could hear her gasping.

He pulled his left hand up further and grabbed onto her chest, holding her tightly up against him to keep her from falling. His right hand continued to tease her.

Without any warning, Paige decided that she had had enough and twisted around to face him in his embrace. She rested her forearms on his shoulders, kissing him fiercely in the process. Mike finally pulled his right hand up and grabbed under her arm. He took a step sideways so that his back was up against the wall, both of his hands now up under her shoulders.

"Ready?" he whispered through his quickened breath.

She nodded once and he swiftly lifted her up, using the wall as leverage so he wouldn't slip.

Paige wrapped her legs around his hips and closed her eyes as she lowered herself down onto him. His lips found hers once more and their breaths became heavy as they let the water crash around them.

Mike knew she was close when he felt her fingernails digging in between his shoulder blades. He quickened the movement of his hips to match her rhythm.

"I'm going to-" he stuttered.

"I know, Mike, but I'm on the-"

That's all he needed to hear. He stabilized himself a little more before flexing up hard. She held onto him tightly, feeling their coordinated energy and identical breaths.

Paige knew that Mike had only been holding her for a minute or so, but after their stressful and emotional roller coaster of a day, she was eager to remain safe in his embrace for as long as possible.

They could feel the water starting to cool. Mike kissed her again as she lifted up and dropped her legs to stand in front of him. He kept his hands on her hips as she leaned her head back into the running water to finish getting the shampoo out of her hair.

He let go of her only so that she could step out of the shower. She walked back over to the towel, wrapping herself in it once more.

She reached her hand out over to him.

He shut off the water and followed her across the bathroom, taking a towel for himself.

"The speaker's still in my room," he reminded her. He assumed that she would want to spend the night with him anyway, but having the excuse couldn't hurt his cause.

They were relieved when they didn't hear anyone else in the house after opening the bathroom door. Even though the secret was out, their relationship didn't need any extra attention from their housemates at the moment.

Mike led Paige across the loft to his room and she went through his dresser drawers, looking for a pair of boxers and a t-shirt. He had turned around to get dressed and switch the speaker on. He smiled when he saw what she was now wearing.

"I don't know what I like better," he said smiling. He walked over to her and moved her backwards. He pushed her lightly so that she fell onto his bed. "You taking off your clothes, or putting on mine." He put his knee on the bed and leaned over her, softly transferring his weight down. He glanced up at the speaker on the nightstand and chuckled to himself.

"What?" Paige asked him, noticing the change in his expression.

"Remind me to go buy a few pints of ice cream tomorrow."

She furrowed her eyebrows at him, pondering his intentions.

Her reaction made him laugh even more. "I'll explain later..."


	37. Chapter 37

The rain pounded against Graceland as the sunrise fought to gain control of the morning. Mike always woke up early, but a part of him was relieved that the rain was suspending his jog. He wanted to enjoy holding Paige in his arms for as long as possible. The house was dark and the clouds made him think that it was still night.

He picked his head up to look over at the clock. 5:23. He let his head fall back onto the pillow and rolled onto his side to kiss Paige's neck. She stirred in her sleep and wiggled her hips back towards him. He could hear rumbling in the distance out over the ocean.

He closed his eyes once more and tried to allow himself more sleep.

* * *

><p>Mike shot up when he heard a scream. "You're dreaming," he told himself. "It's another one of your nightmares." He looked down and saw that Paige was still snuggled into his blankets. He tried to erase the memories of his missed shot. It was just unacceptable. He hadn't missed his aim with a handheld gun in years.<p>

The bedroom glowed from the next lightning strike, and the roaring thunder came before he could lay back down, making his room shake.

There was another scream.

In the few seconds it took Mike to realize where the scream had come from, he was already standing up next to the bed, pulling up a pair of sweatpants he had found on the floor.

The combination of the storm, the crying, and Mike's movement was able to wake Paige from early morning sleep, but he was halfway out the door before she understood what was making him move so quickly.

She was still wearing his clothes and reached over to the nightstand to turn off the speaker. She ran after him, following him up the stairs.

Paige bumped into Mike's back as she ran into the girl's bedroom. Jessie's room was still fairly dark because of the storm.

He was standing a few feet from the bed. Paige looked over at the spot where she had tucked-in Jessie the night before, and realized why Mike hadn't gone further into the room. Jessie wasn't there.

Lightning quickly illuminated the space.

They could hear her crying and knew they needed to find her before the next roar of thunder.

Paige noticed that the comforter was flipped on top of itself and bunched together, creating a large mound in the middle of the bed.

She exhaled when she saw the comforter rustle. She took Mike's hand and led him over to the bed. Paige talked sweetly at the pile of blankets. "Do you want to come out of there, sweetheart?"

Once Paige had announced her presence, she climbed up onto the bed and Mike did the same. Paige thought she saw the corner of the blanket lift up a bit, but the thunder crashed even louder than it had the last time, and the comforter seemed to fall a few inches as if its controller was pulling it tighter to the bed.

The crying intensified and Paige could hear that it was affecting her breathing.

"Mike and I are right here, Jessie. Can you look at us? Can you come out of there?"

"We won't let the thunder get you," Mike added. He was trying to match Paige's tone. He still didn't feel completely confident in his ability to calm the girl down, especially since she had seemed alarmed the past few times he had attempted to console her.

Paige reached out and tried to peel the comforter away, but was met with some resistance and a little yelp.

Mike grabbed the other side and together they slowly managed to expose Jessie, who had been all tangled up in the sheets and blankets in the middle of the bed.

Paige gently rested her hand on top of Jessie's head to get her attention, but the girl moved away from her and shook her head.

Paige tried again. She reached out and ran her hand through Jessie's hair, and even though the girl flinched, this time she tolerated Paige comforting her.

"Is the noise scaring you?" Paige asked her.

Jessie shook her head once.

"No?" Paige asked her, doubting that she was being honest.

The room filled with flashing light once more and Paige could feel her shaking.

"Do you want me to hold you?" Paige kept her voice sweet and light. It was difficult for Paige that Jessie wasn't responding positively to her attempts at comforting her. She and Mike hadn't had a lucid conversation with the girl since she witnessed Katia get shot.

Paige inched closer to her, knowing that the thunder was coming in a matter of seconds. She slid her hands gently under Jessie's arms to be ready to pick her up.

They could feel Graceland quake against the waves of thunder. Jessie clenched her arms tightly around Paige's hands and attempted to melt into the bedding, but Paige fought against her and tried to take the girl in her arms.

As soon as the noise faded, Jessie looked up at the woman. Paige graciously took the cue.

She pulled Jessie up a little, and the girl leaped at Paige, almost knocking her onto her back. She buried her face into the woman's chest, continuing to cry.

Mike untangled the purple blanket and covered Jessie with it. He placed his hand on her back to try and get her to calm down, but she twisted away from his touch.

"I'll be right back..." Mike said quietly to Paige. He climbed down off the bed and stepped out of the room.

Paige rocked back and forth, holding Jessie as close as she could. Paige needed to figure out if she was still in shock from the night before.

"Do you know where you are?"

Jessie nodded her head in small quick movements.

"Can you tell me where you are?"

The girl didn't answer her; Paige had somewhat expected that she wouldn't speak.

She decided to try and be realistic with her. "Last night was pretty scary, huh?"

Paige felt almost relieved when Jessie nodded her head, letting the tears fall freely down the side of her face. "You know that you're safe now, right?"

There was a little nod, but her grip on Paige tightened and another lightning strike lit up the bedroom.

Mike came back in, and Paige smiled at him when she saw what he was holding- a pair of noise canceling headphones, the kind they use in firearms training.

He sat up on the bed and quickly slid the headphones over Jessie's ears. She shook her head, unsure as to what Mike and Paige had just done to her, but when the thunder pounded against the house, her reaction to the noise was deflated.

Jessie looked up at Paige with a confused expression. Paige pointed to her own ear, wanting Jessie to mimic her. Jessie reached her hand up and gently tapped her fingers against the side of the giant ear cover on her head. Paige watched as Jessie processed the purpose of the headphones; she thought she saw a small smile flicker across the girl's face.

Paige pointed to Mike to show her who had brought over the headphones. Jessie glanced at him, but then quickly buried her head back in Paige's embrace.

Paige easily lifted up one of the ear covers so that she could continue to talk and try to figure out how much the girl knew.

"Do you remember being in the ambulance with us?"

Jessie looked up at her. Paige could tell she had gotten the girl's attention. "On the bed inside the truck?" Paige asked. Maybe using the word ambulance was too much.

Jessie nodded and put her hand on her own stomach. "Yes," Paige said to her, "we checked to make sure you weren't hurt. And then you fell asleep, and me and you and Mike all drove back here to stay safe." Paige was running her hand in circles on Jessie's back. "And we got you all clean - you slept the whole time, sweetheart."

Lightning struck and Paige put the headphones back over her ears securely in preparation for the thunder. The woman felt the girl's whole body tense as the noise echoed throughout the house. Paige knew that the storm was moving away from them, but it was still pretty powerful.

When the noise faded, Paige slid the headphones off once more.

Mike tried to get Jessie's attention. "I'm sorry that Katia got hurt." Jessie looked up at Mike and stared at him. He looked to Paige for reassurance. "It was an accident," Mike continued. "I'm sorry that Sulla, the bad man, tried to hurt her... and I'm sorry that you saw her get hurt." Paige could hear the tremor in his voice.

Jessie's eyes were glued to him as he spoke to her. "Can we still be friends?" Mike asked her. Jessie reached up and pulled the headphones down over her ears, but then she pushed back against Paige's arms. The woman was surprised, but let her go, and watched as Jessie put her arms out to Mike.

He lifted her onto his lap and pulled her into a hug as a small strike of lightning hit the ocean. The rain had eased up and the room was brightening as the sun broke its way through the clouds. It took longer for the thunder to arrive, and when it did, Mike held Jessie close and tried to make her feel safe, mimicking how Paige had done it.

Jessie helped him pull off the headphones after the thunder had passed, and he positioned her in his lap so that he could make eye contact with her. "When I was new here, I saw a friend get hurt with a gun when I was at work. It shouldn't have happened and it made me really sad."

Paige immediately thought of Mike's first few weeks at Graceland and his run-in with Eddie and Bello.

"Sometimes when I hear thunder," Mike continued, "it makes me scared because it sounds-"

"Like a gun," Jessie whispered, cutting him off. She reached up and took the headphones off from around her neck and placed them on top of Mike's head. He let go of her to adjust them over his ears, and Jessie wrapped her arms around his neck in a warm hug.

Paige was overwhelmed by Jessie's connection with him. "Is that what the thunder sounded like to you?" Paige asked her.

Jessie looked over at her and nodded with big glossy eyes, but then looked down at her stomach as it made a loud rumbling noise.

Paige reached out to her and tickled her belly. "I think you have your own thunder," Paige said smiling. "Let's go get some breakfast."

Mike put the headphones down on the bed and carried Jessie out of the room. Paige followed them down to the kitchen.

* * *

><p>When Briggs walked down the stairs an hour later, he found Paige, Mike, and Jessie cuddled on the giant L-shaped couch. They were watching a movie that he and Charlie had bought.<p>

He walked into the kitchen to get some coffee and saw Johnny standing by the sink.

"You have fun on your date last night, J.T.?" Briggs asked, laughing at him.

Johnny puffed out his chest. "Did I get Carlito all by myself or not?!"

"You did good, Johnny."

The two of them paused and looked out into the living room.

Johnny shook his head back and forth. "They leave their clothes and shit all over the bathroom and think that they can just lay around all morning..." He and Briggs both knew that he wasn't being serious, but Johnny couldn't help but laugh at the little family unit.

Briggs sighed and chugged back the rest of his coffee.

"You ok, man?" Johnny asked him.

Briggs picked up his cell phone. "I just don't know how I'm going to tell them."

"Tell them what?"

"Clarke called a little while ago. Jakes told you about Jessie being at the site last night?"

Johnny nodded, not liking Briggs' tone.

"Well, the bureau witnessed the whole thing. Clarke said that they've decided this arrangement isn't going to work."

"This arrangement?" Johnny asked, getting defensive.

Briggs put down the mug and looked Johnny square in the face. "They're putting her in foster care, Johnny. They think placing her in Graceland was a bad idea... and now that the case is over..."

Johnny looked back at Jessie on the couch. She was snuggled into Paige and Mike, looking so happy and peaceful.

"They're not taking her," Johnny said firmly.

"2 o'clock, Johnny," Briggs said softly. He turned away from him before adding, "Don't tell them yet."


	38. Chapter 38

Johnny walked over to the living room with his coffee mug gripped tightly in his hands. Jessie was leaning back against Mike's chest with her feet out across Paige's lap. The three of them looked so cozy in the corner of the couch.

"I heard about last night," Johnny said, sitting down next to Paige. Jessie looked over at Johnny and waved at him shyly.

"Did you go on an adventure last night?" Johnny asked her with an excited tone. Mike paused the movie and Jessie nodded really big.

Mike had his arm wrapped around her torso and Jessie's hands were clasped to his forearm.

"Yeah..." Johnny said, "I went on an adventure too."

"You pretended?" Jessie asked him, remembering their conversation the day before about his undercover op.

"Mhmmm, I pretended to be a bad guy. And guess what?"

She tilted her head at Johnny.

"It worked!" he said.

Jessie peeled one of her hands off of Mike's arm to reach out with a fist to Johnny. He leaned in across Paige to fist bump the little girl. Jessie giggled, making Mike and Paige snap their eyes at each other. They hadn't seen the girl this happy since they had left the house the day before.

Jakes came trotting down the steps and Jessie's eyes tracked him as he walked into the kitchen.

"Jakes!" Johnny yelled playfully. "Come watch the movie!"

"No way, Johnny," he said. "Don't you have paperwork to-" He cut himself off when he realized that his cell phone was buzzing. Actually, it sounded more like three or four phones buzzing.

Jakes read the message a few times before looking up into the living room. Johnny had tried to beat Paige and Mike to their phones on the coffee table, but he wasn't quick enough. It was a text from Clarke sent to the six agents: "Had to reschedule. I'll pick her up for transfer at noon. Be ready."

"He's trying to move it up?" Johnny mumbled to himself.

"What's 'it' Johnny?" Paige asked him. She was staring at her cell screen, trying to think of who "her" was. It was most certainly not Jessie. They couldn't take Jessie from Graceland. The girl wasn't ready yet... Paige wasn't ready yet...

"You knew this was happening?" Mike asked him. He protectively held Jessie in his lap. The girl was still clueless that she was the topic of conversation. She had heard plenty of moody banter over the past three days, and Mike raising his voice at Johnny didn't startle the girl.

Johnny didn't want to answer him, so he did the only thing he could. He turned his head to the stairs and screamed, "BRIGGS!"

Paige whacked Johnny in the chest. "He knew too?!"

"Owww, P!" Johnny said leaning away from her. "I, like, just found out!"

Briggs came charging down the stairs with Charlie on his heels.

Mike, Paige, Jessie, and Johnny all stared at him as he walked into the living room. He halted a few paces from the couch and sighed.

It was Charlie who spoke first. She felt incredibly guilty, but knew that Jessie's departure from Graceland was going to happen sooner or later. "Jessie," Charlie said sweetly, "would you like to go for a walk?"

"No," Mike answered for her. Jessie leaned her head back against his shoulder. He reached a hand out to Paige for her to grab, and she started to squeeze his fingers.

"Ok," Briggs said, "well, it's better that we all talk about this together anyway." He turned to the kitchen. "Hey, D.J., come in here a minute."

Charlie sat down next to Mike, and Jakes joined her with a bowl of cereal.

Briggs pulled the chair closer to them and arranged himself so that the seven of them were in a kind of circle.

"Do not overreact to what I am about to say." Briggs spoke with an almost monotone voice.

"Yes, Clarke is coming here... now at noon apparently. Yes, he is ordering that placement be switched to foster care. No, we can't override this." He looked down at his feet. "I already tried to reason with him."

Paige was speechless.

Jakes checked his watch. "So, uh, ninety minutes?"

The agents didn't know what to say. Deep down, they all must have known that this time would come. But after only three days?

Paige gritted her teeth. She was fuming. Briggs noticed her change in tone and gestured for her to explain it to Jessie, but Paige shook her head. "You do it," she whispered harshly.

Briggs smiled at the little girl in Mike's lap. "So..." he started, "do you remember the nice man who brought you here to stay with us?"

Jessie nodded slowly at him.

"He is going to come back here today in a little while..."

Mike could feel Jessie tense and he did his best to make her feel safe.

"He's going to... You are going to..." Briggs couldn't say it.

"You have a new mission to play pretend," Johnny said. He puffed his chest out and pushed his shoulders back, sitting up tall. He looked right at Jessie and she looked back at him quizzically.

"Johnny- don't..." Paige said shaking her head.

"Jessie, come here," she said. Paige pulled the girl onto her own lap so that they were face to face. "The FBI thinks that it's not safe for you to live here anymore." Paige did her best to hold back her tears. She could tell that Jessie was still a bit clueless.

"That nice man is going to come back here and play with us for a little while, and then you are going to go back in the car with him, and he's going to take you to a new family-"

Jessie ripped herself away from Paige and bolted off the couch, trying to make it to the steps. Briggs intercepted her and lifted her up, her legs swinging violently at him.

Paige let the tears fall down her cheek while she watched Briggs hold Jessie, trying to keep her still.

Mike's mind, on the other hand, was racing. "We'll track her," he said to himself. Paige turned to look at him. His eyes were red and deep in thought. "We'll put a tracker on her and in the bag. We'll stake out the house - take shifts. If anything suspicious happens we..."

"They're probably very nice people," Jakes said quietly. Briggs was now rocking back and forth. Jessie had stopped fighting him and was now just crying in his arms, admitting defeat from being able to escape and hide.

"I know, Jakes," Briggs said to him.

"She needs a mom and a dad," Jakes continued, "not 6 crazy aunts and uncles who can't watch her all the time."

"I didn't think it was a good idea three days ago either," Mike said softly, "but now..."

Johnny's eyes got wide. "Ummm, when I was under yesterday at the club... 'Somebody' told me that he would be doing everything in his power to get his kid back from foster care. And this 'somebody' was very confident in his ability to make that happen."

"You think someone fed Clarke the idea to pull her from FBI custody?" Charlie asked.

"Not necessarily," Briggs responded for Johnny.

"So we stake out the house," Mike said, still going through his plan. "And if they come to take her back, we tail them." He turned to Johnny with a serious look on his face. "Is your cover still strong?"

Paige stood up and took Jessie from Briggs. She held her close on the couch and kept whispering to her that she would be ok. Paige wasn't sure if the comments were helping Jessie or just keeping herself from screaming.

Johnny nodded at Mike. "Yeah..." His eyes lit up. "My cover's going to need to make a buy."

Briggs liked where Mike and Johnny were going with the plan. "So we track her to lead us to their new site. Johnny goes in to make the buy."

"And the kid blows your cover," Jakes said, shaking his head.

Paige snapped to Briggs. "She knows too much about Graceland. How can they risk...?"

"Clarke didn't want to hear that she would be pulled from the foster home. And as far as Clarke's concerned, she doesn't know where we are right now or enough about any of us that a random foster family would matter in the scheme of things."

Paige stiffened her lips and tried to act tough. "Johnny, you think you can set up a buy once we know she's been pulled?"

He nodded confidently.

She looked down at Jessie in her arms. The little girl was crying quietly. "I will get you back," Paige said to her. "Do you trust me?" Jessie picked her head up a little bit and nodded twice. "Do you think you can be a good FBI agent and play pretend for a few days?" Jessie didn't respond.

"We'll never leave you alone, kiddo," Briggs said.

"One of us will be right outside your new house parked in a car on the street. The whole time. Even in the middle of the night," Mike explained.

Briggs didn't see how Paige thought she'd be able to get the kid back. He didn't want to make any promises, but if it helped make Jessie's departure less stressful, who was he to try and stop Paige from saying it.

Jessie looked around at the agents who were all giving her encouraging looks.

"How about we practice playing pretend with Johnny?" Paige asked her.

A spark of interest flashed across Jessie's face. She looked quickly to Johnny and Briggs.

"Can you practice being undercover with me?" Johnny asked her.

Jessie pushed up onto her knees and nodded at him.

"Good girl," Paige said. She leaned in and kissed Jessie's forehead.

"Watch this," Johnny said to them. He turned to face the little girl. "We talked about it yesterday, right?" She nodded at him again. "Ok, so if you see me outside of this house. What's my name?" She shook her head.

"Can you run up to me and hug me?"

"No," Jessie said seriously. "I'm scared of you like a bad guy."

"See?" Johnny said to the room. He crossed his arms and sat back on the couch.


	39. Chapter 39

Paige squeezed Mike's hand while they all continued to talk with Jessie about what was going to happen. Jessie laid back up against Paige, who was running her other hand over the little girl's forehead.

"Mr. Clarke is going to drive with you to a new house," Briggs said to her gently.

"L-like this one?" Jessie whispered.

Briggs chuckled. "Well... probably not as big, but they will be nice there."

"They might have some other kids, too," Johnny added.

"And they'll have a soft bed for you, and books, and good food, and pictures to color..." Paige tried to make the move sound enticing.

"A-and you c-come with m-me?" Jessie stuttered.

Briggs nodded with a small smile. "Not inside with you, but we will be so close the whole time."

Jessie started to get fidgety in Paige's lap. "And then I c-come b-back here?" Her voice was pleading, trying to understand.

All six of the agents held their breath. Paige and Mike shared a glance. Mike could see how broken down Paige was. He would be lying to himself if he didn't admit he felt the same way.

"We will make sure you are safe, ok?" Johnny said to her. "And... if something happens... and you're not safe anymore... that's when we will come play pretend and help you."

Jessie looked over to him and stopped squirming. Paige could tell that Jessie was thinking hard about what they had explained.

"C-can we pr-practice?" she mumbled.

Johnny smiled at her and stood up. "Sure," he said, "who should be the real bad guy?"

Jessie looked at the agents and then slowly pointed at Mike.

"What?!" Mike said playfully. He threw his head back and laughed little at her. "Ok..."

Paige stood Jessie up in front of her. "So if bad guys were in this room right now, where would you go?" Paige already knew how the girl would answer, but watched as Jessie bravely walked over to the coat closet in the foyer and pointed to the door.

Johnny and Mike both stood up and started to walk over to her. "And where would I be?" Mike asked her.

Jessie just pointed to a chair over by the window. "You yell," she said to him.

Mike squinted his eyes at her, but then obeyed and walked to the other side of the room.

"I'm going to pretend that I want to buy some coke, ok?" Johnny reminded her. He felt very strange talking about drugs in front of the kid, but he reminded himself that to Jessie, hearing the word was expected.

Jessie nodded slowly and stepped away from him. She opened the closet door and shut it quietly behind her.

Johnny and Mike looked over to the rest of the agents on the couch. Their faces were priceless.

"Go ahead, dad," Jakes said chuckling. He was still finishing his cereal, but was treating it more like a bag of popcorn as he watched the scene unfold.

"Funny..." Mike said darkly.

Johnny knocked loudly on the wall. "Hey!" he shouted, "it's Johnny! You home?"

"Yeah," Mike yelled back awkwardly. Charlie was snickering at his acting skills. He walked over to Johnny and put his hand out. "Good to see you, man," Mike said.

"Yeah, you too," Johnny replied loudly. "So, uh, ever since that bust, I need to get my hands on some more product. You know of a new hookup?"

"Well, as a matter of fact-"

"Mike! No drug dealer would say 'matter of fact'!" Johnny whacked Mike's arm and shook his head at his housemate.

"You want the coke or not?!" Mike yelled.

"Yeah..." Johnny said. He nodded his head at Mike. "You know I'll move it easy." Johnny looked around the room. "Uh, is anyone else here?"

Mike tilted his head at Johnny. "You sure?" he whispered.

Johnny whispered back at him. "Let's see what she does."

Mike cleared his throat and yelled, "Jessie! Get out here; I want you to meet someone!"

There wasn't any movement from the closet. Mike tried again. "NOW!" He immediately regretted his scream and he couldn't help to look over at Paige, who gave him a very disapproving expression.

But to their surprise, the door handle twisted open and Jessie moved forward to stand in the doorway, staring out at Mike and Johnny. "Come here," Mike said imperatively. She shuffled her feet a little, but stayed back against the door.

"This is my new friend, Johnny," Mike said. "Can you say hello to him?"

Jessie waved at him a little, but kept her eyes on Mike.

"Hey man," Johnny said to Mike, "I didn't know you had a kid here..."

Mike shrugged his shoulders and walked over to the couch to get a pillow. He held the pillow out to Johnny. "Here is the coke you asked for." Mike knew that his phrasing was not even remotely close to how a coke dealer would make a buy, but this was the semi-PG version...

Johnny took the pillow from Mike and tried not to laugh in his face. He shook Mike's hand and said, "Pleasure doing business with you."

Briggs yelled, "FBI! Freeze and put your hands up!"

Johnny dropped the pillow. He and Mike put their hands in the air. Briggs walked over to them and put his hands out in front of him, pretending to hold a gun. He noticed that Jessie was still frozen up against the door. "Hey Jessie," Briggs said out of character, "when the good guys come in the FBI jackets, I want you to sit on the floor in a ball, ok? I'm going to practice again."

Briggs took two steps backwards and then screamed into the room once more. "FBI! Freeze and put your hands up!" Mike and Johnny kept their hands in the air and Jessie dropped down onto the floor. She brought her knees to her chest and covered her ears with her hands. "Perfect," Paige said to her.

Briggs walked over to Mike and pretended to cuff him. Paige walked over to Jessie and squatted down in front of her. "Hi there," Paige said to her, "My name is Paige and I am with the DEA. Here, look at my badge." Jessie picked her head up and looked at Paige's empty hand. "Don't let anyone take you who doesn't show you their badge, ok?" Paige whispered to her. Jessie nodded and put her arms out to the woman. Paige scooped her up and swiftly carried her back over to the couch.

Johnny took a big bow and Mike started to clap his hands together. "Girl," Johnny said beaming, "that was so good!"

Jessie smiled at him a little in Paige's arms.

"If the FBI comes just stay still wherever you are, and we will find you, ok?" Briggs told her. "And even with the nice new family," he added, "...you can't tell them our names..." Briggs was sure that she could rattle off who they all were. And if the foster house was a set-up, he couldn't risk a five-year old burning Graceland.

Jessie reached her arm around to her back and pulled at her shirt. "Mike," Paige said to him, "We should probably-"

He nodded at her. "Let's go put the bag together..."

Briggs looked over at them. "You guys get her packed, and me and Chuck will get some lunch ready."

Jessie clung tightly to Paige as the woman carried her up the steps. Paige did everything in her power to not start crying. She knew this was going to end badly, and she wasn't prepared for their separation yet.

Mike joined them in Jessie's room a few minutes later. Jessie looked up at him and saw that he was carrying the burn cream with some gauze and the roll of tape.

Jessie put her head down on Paige's shoulder, but nodded at him and lifted up the bottom of her shirt. "It's itchy..." she whispered to them.

"That's because it's getting better," Mike explained. "Can I see?"

Jessie nodded and Paige lifted the back of her pajama top up. Paige and Mike had changed into sweats before they had sat down to watch the movie with Jessie earlier that morning, but they had let the girl keep the pajamas on.

Mike had forgotten that he had used bandaids the last time he treated the burns. "I'm going to try my best..." he said. He slowly peeled back one of the sticky tabs and Jessie squirmed away from him. "Ok, ok," Mike said, stopping, "one minute."

He left the room and Paige tried to make light of the anticipation.

"He's pretty crazy, huh?" Paige asked the girl, rocking slowly with her back and forth.

Jessie nodded into her shoulder. "Are you gonna marry him?" she asked in a whisper.

Paige couldn't help the laugh that creeped out her mouth. She didn't know how to answer her. "Do you want us to get married?"

Jessie nodded again. "And then I can live with you?"

Mike came back into the room with a wet washcloth in his hand and Paige just stared into his eyes. "What?" Mike asked her, taken aback by her expression.

"Nothing..."

He walked over to them and tried to remove the bandaids again. This time, he used the water to loosen the adhesive and the bandaids fell right off. He took out his phone and looked at the photos he had taken of her back when she had first arrived at Graceland. He compared the image to Jessie's back now.

"Pretty soon you won't even need the medicine anymore," Mike said to her. "It's getting a lot better."

He used his sleeve to gently pat dry her back and reapplied the burn cream, securing the gauze over the spots with the medical tape.

"W-will the new p-people have it?" Jessie asked them.

"Medicine for your back?" Paige asked her. The girl nodded once.

"We can give it to them," Paige explained.

"We'll put it in your bag, ok?" Mike added.

She seemed satisfied with their answer and she let Paige put her down on the bed.

Mike grabbed the duffel bag. "Do you think we need something bigger?"

"No," Paige said quickly. "I doubt she'll need much..."

Mike didn't retaliate. He knew Paige needed more time to accept that the girl was leaving Graceland.

Paige brought Jessie a new outfit to wear and helped her change, while Mike started adding items from the dresser into the duffel bag. Paige was surprised at how calm Jessie was being.

They added as much clothing as they could, along with some books that Jessie picked out of the shelf. Paige looked over at the bed. "Do you want to take the purple blanket with you?" Paige asked her gently.

"It's yours," Jessie whispered.

"But you can have it," Paige said. Jessie nodded and grabbed it off the bed, holding it close to her.

"Let's leave it in here for now, and we can go get your stuff from the bathroom," Paige suggested.

After the girls left, Mike went into the phone room to grab a small GPS, adding it to the duffel bag.

Paige helped Jessie brush her teeth, and they packed up some of the items that Charlie had bought for her.

Mike carried the bag out into the hall, with the purple blanket folded on top.

"Is it in there?" Paige asked him, walking with Jessie back out into the hallway. She added the toiletry bag to the duffel.

"Yeah," Mike said, "should last for at least 72 hours."

He could see that Paige was starting to lose her composure. Her eye movements were scattered and she was pursing her lips. Mike leaned forward and kissed her, putting his hand gently on the back of her head. "We will figure this out," he said. He kissed her again, closing his eyes and matching his breath to hers.

"I know," she mumbled. Jessie had her arms wrapped around Paige's leg and had been watching them.

"I think she's being stronger than I am," Paige said with an awkward laugh.

Mike smiled at her and moved his hand through her hair.

Their moment together was disrupted by the sound of a car door slamming outside. Mike and Paige both held their breath. The doorbell rang, and within seconds, Jessie started to sob.


	40. Chapter 40

"I can't do this," Paige said to him. Mike could see the tear falling down her cheek.

"I know," he said in a sigh. "Let's see if we can talk some sense into him."

Jessie had her fingers clawed into Paige's thigh as she cried, understanding that the man who was going to take her away was at Graceland. Paige reached down to pick her up, but stopped herself.

"I-I don't think I can..."

Mike took the cue from Paige and grabbed Jessie from behind, lifting her up. The girl threw herself around him and locked her hands behind his neck. He could feel the wet tears.

"Not yet," Mike said to the little girl, hearing the anxiety in her cries. "Do you want to eat some lunch with everyone?" He tried to make the question seem routine, hoping to provide as much normalcy as he could.

Paige had picked up the duffel bag and the blanket. She was trying to wipe her face so that the others wouldn't know she had been crying too.

Mike continued to talk softly to Jessie as they walked down into the kitchen. When they got to the living room, Paige put the bag down and nodded at Briggs, letting him know that they had placed the GPS system in the bag.

"Hello, Jessie."

She remembered that voice. She remembered him from the FBI station.

"Can you say, hi?" Mike whispered to her. If it was even possible, Jessie tightened her grip on Mike even more. She tried to lock her ankles together behind his back, but she couldn't quite reach. Her cries were still audible and Mike felt the tears dripping near his collarbone.

Paige didn't want to say hello to Clarke either. She stared at Briggs as if he was a part of the problem.

"With all due respect, sir," Mike said to Clarke, "she needs to eat something before... and that's not going to happen unless you..."

"Agent Briggs and I will be going over some of the updated files based on last night's events," Clarke said.

Briggs led his boss over to the dining room table on the opposite side of the space.

Mike could feel Jessie shaking in his arms. Her muscles were tense and Mike could hear that she was starting to talk to herself, mumbling, "no, no, no," over and over again.

Paige put her hand on the girl's back and the three of them walked into the kitchen.

There was a plate with some sandwiches on the kitchen table, along with some of the left over tacos from two days earlier.

Paige looked over at Johnny, who was standing by the stovetop. "Are you really making pancakes right now?"

"What, P?! I wanted to make her some pancakes..."

Paige could tell that Johnny was upset based on the tone of his voice.

"Do you want some pancakes?" Mike asked Jessie. He sat down on the bench that was facing away from the living room, so that Jessie wouldn't see Briggs and Clarke.

The little girl shook her head. Mike tried to get her to sit up in his lap, but she wasn't having any of it.

Jakes and Charlie joined them at the table. "She's breaking my heart," Jakes said to them. "But, we knew this was going to happen at some point, right?" He was looking for reassurance. Were they doing the right thing? Did they have another option?

Paige gave Jakes a death glare, and she opened her mouth to retaliate, but Charlie put her hand up, stopping Paige from saying something that she might regret later.

"Let's just enjoy lunch," Charlie said to them. She took a sandwich from the plate and Paige helped Mike move Jessie's legs so that she was sitting sideways on his lap.

"We need you to eat something, sweetheart," Paige said gently. "Will you eat a sandwich?"

Jessie shook her head and tried to twist back around so that her chest was up against Mike.

"What about pancakes?!" Johnny said to her. "You can't not eat pancakes," he said with a silly tone, "it's a rule!"

Jessie hesitantly picked her head up and Mike immediately turned her so that she wasn't looking across the living room at Briggs and Clarke.

Johnny brought over a stack of pancakes. "Who's that?"

Jessie looked at Johnny; he was staring right back at her with a huge smile on his face. Paige started to laugh when she realized what he had done.

"Who is that?" Johnny asked Jessie again. The girl glanced quickly at the first pancake. "Is it Charlie?" Johnny asked her. She shook her head no and pointed her finger at Mike's chest.

"It's Mike?!" Johnny asked, pretending to be surprised. "How did you know?"

Jessie looked at the pancake and then at Mike's shirt. She poked her finger three times down the front of his chest. "Buttons," she whispered.

"Did you make us all in pancake form, Johnny?" Paige asked, kind of intrigued by his craftiness.

"Mhmm," he replied. He gave Mike his pancake and then showed Jessie the next one. She glanced at it and then pointed to Jakes.

"Right again," Johnny said laughing. "Gotta love the dreads..."

"I am not eating myself," Jakes said.

"Why you gotta be like that, Jakes?" Johnny said, making him take the pancake anyway.

Jessie pointed at Johnny when she saw the next pancake. He had made the pancake-man have little dark horizontal stripes on its arms.

"Smartypants is three for three," Charlie said, smiling at Jessie. They all noticed that she had stopped crying. She had even sat up a little bit taller to play the game with Johnny.

Jessie read the letters that were on the chest of the next "pancake person" and pointed at Paige.

"Thank you, Johnny," Paige said to him, taking her own pancake to eat.

"Do you know who that is?" Johnny asked her. Jessie nodded, but didn't turn to look at him. "Is it Paul?" Johnny asked. She nodded once more and Johnny put it to the side. "We'll let him have it later, ok?"

"Charlie," Jessie said sweetly when they got to the next pancake. "Mmmm," Charlie said, biting into it. "Thank you."

Jessie smiled when she saw that there was one more pancake left on the plate. It was a little bit smaller and had curly hair.

"Who's that?" Johnny asked her. He sat down with them at the table. Jessie reached out to take her pancake. "Me," she said softly.

Paige put some syrup on the plate and handed her a fork. She twisted open one of the vitamin drinks for her to have as well.

Mike helped Jessie with the pancake and they were relieved to see her eat the whole thing.

Paige put the drink in her hand and she took some big sips.

When they had finished with the hodgepodge of food on the table, Briggs and Clarke joined them in the kitchen. Briggs didn't want to look like a "bad guy", and let Clarke do the talking.

"I'm sorry that we let you stay here," he said to Jessie. She was already tucked back in Mike's embrace with her hands clenched around pieces of his shirt.

"No," Johnny said to him, almost offended by his words. "This place was the best thing to happen to her, and now you're going to ruin everything that we've-"

"Johnny, stop it," Briggs said, cutting him off. "It was always going to be temporary."

"Look," Charlie said to Clarke, "it's just that this is not a good way for her to transition..."

Clarke ignored her comment and continued to talk at the little girl. "I need for you to come with me now. Maybe we can arrange a visit in a few days," he suggested.

"What happens if she talks about Graceland?" Paige asked him, trying to prolong their separation.

"This is a non-affiliated family. They won't have any interest in finding out more about this house or why it exists. They have been briefed on the fact that she has been in the care of agents who found her after a bust."

"I want to see their file, the interview transcripts, everything," Paige said sternly.

"I assure you that they have been cleared," Ms. Arkin. "In fact, they've cared for domestic abuse victims in the past."

"And the security on the place?" Johnny asked.

"It's in the suburbs..." Clarke said.

"What if someone tries to take-"

"Not now, Johnny," Briggs said, cutting him off again.

"Her safety has been our priority throughout the follow-up of this case... which is why she was brought here. But, it seems as though even federal agents couldn't follow the rules of acting as a safe house, so..."

"This is NOT on us," Charlie said. She stood up from the table and got in the man's face. Jessie's cries were growing louder. "YOU are the one causing more emotional damage by moving her placement-"

"Graceland is NOT for children," Clarke said firmly.

Charlie took a breath and crossed her arms. "Well, good luck in seven months then, because I guess I'll be resigning!"

There was a unanimous gasp from the room.

"Agent DeMarco," Clarke continued, "we will discuss your personal matters at another time."

Clarke looked down at his watch. "We really need to be going."

He didn't even try to take Jessie from Mike's arms. "What?" Paige said to him, "You really think she is just going to walk out of this house with you?"

"No," he said, "Warren will put her in the car." Clarke grabbed some of the files and Mike slowly stood up with Jessie latched onto him. The girl must have thought that Mike was giving her up, because she tried to throw herself over to Paige.

Paige started to cry as she took the girl in her arms. The woman kissed Jessie's cheek and walked away from the kitchen, whispering into her ear. "Listen to me. We have a little computer in your bag. We will find you. We will make sure you're safe. Remember to play pretend." Paige took a breath. "We love you."

All of the agents walked with Paige into the living room. Jessie was hoping that they were going back upstairs, but started to panic when she felt them stop by the door. "I will see you so soon," Paige said to her confidently, giving her a final bear hug. Mike took Jessie from Paige's arms and held her close.

"No way," Johnny said to them as Mike turned towards the door. "I get a hug too."

Despite the tears and sniffling, Johnny took her from Mike with ease. "I promise that we will go surfing again, ok?" She nodded into his shoulder.

"...And m-mallows?" she asked through her cries.

Johnny had to fight to stop a tear from falling down his cheek. "Anything you want," he said to her. He kissed the top of her head and gave her a final squeeze. "You know who else loves hugs?" Johnny asked her. She didn't respond, but Johnny continued anyway. "Jakes really loves hugs."

Jakes took a breath, but let a smile creep across his face. "Oh, come here," he said reaching his hands out. Jessie let him hold her and she hugged him goodbye. "She gives better hugs than you, Johnny."

Jakes looked down at her. "Stay smart; you're going to be just fine."

"My turn," Charlie said, pulling her away from Jakes.

"Listen," she said to the girl. Jessie was still sniffling and letting the tears fall freely down her face. "I'm really sorry that you only got to stay here for a little while. I'm sorry..." Charlie's voice broke and Jessie looked up at the women. The little girl placed her palm on Charlie's cheek, as if to tell her that it wasn't her fault. Charlie kissed her forehead and hugged her once more.

Jessie was comforted by the security she felt in Briggs' arms when he finally took her from Charlie. He rubbed her back and said his goodbyes as Clarke opened the front door.

Clarke was holding her duffel bag and Johnny handed Briggs the blanket.

Briggs placed the blanket under Jessie's arm and she cuddled into it instantly. Jessie didn't start to scream until she realized that they were outside.

Paige instinctively ran towards the door, but Mike threw his arm around her waist and reeled her back. "I-I can't," she said crying. She laid her head down on Mike's shoulder and he held on to her with all of his strength. He coerced her into going upstairs, but she refused, leading them back to the kitchen.

Outside, Briggs was having a very difficult time trying to get her buckled into the car. She was screaming and coughing, kicking at him and crying all at the same time. It was heart-wrenching for him, making him feel like the villain.

He heard her gasp for air through her sobs and he knew that he couldn't just leave her screaming in the back of the car.

"I'll come too," he said. "I'm coming with you; I'm coming too," he repeated. He got into the car and she climbed up onto his lap, eager for his big arms to secure her once more. He wrapped the blanket around her and held onto her. He could feel her shaking against his chest as Clarke backed out of the driveway.

It was Jakes who saw Briggs get into the car. "He went with her," Jakes announced to them. He walked into the kitchen and sat back down at the table.

"So we need to be there with a car before they leave the foster house?" Paige asked. "Clarke will make Briggs come back with him, and no one will be outside to watch."

"And Briggs can just call-in the address to us," Mike added.

They paused for a few seconds before the elephant in the room finally made its appearance.

"WAIT," Johnny said, throwing his hands up at Charlie, "are you really pregnant?!"

"Guilty," she said, looking down at her feet.

"Do you know-?" Johnny asked.

She glared at him. "It's Paul's. He's known for a few days."

"So you guys are moving...?" Johnny asked, trying to understand.

"Well, I was hoping not, but I guess maybe we will have to." She was starting to clear the table. Mike was still comforting Paige, who had seemed to finally let the emotion detach itself from her job.

They helped Charlie clean up the room, but turned to face her when they heard her gasp. "What?" Mike asked her.

"Look..." she said, "it was in the pile from yesterday afternoon."

Charlie was holding up a picture that Jessie had drawn. Across the top it said: "My New Family" and underneath were seven stick-figures.

Paige closed her eyes for a moment and took a breath. "We're getting her back."


	41. Chapter 41

Briggs could feel Jessie's fingernails digging into his arms as the the car pulled into a driveway. The house was two stories with a small yard. The front door was open and there was a young boy standing in the entranceway, peering out to the road.

Briggs hadn't been in the neighborhood before, but he knew the surrounding area pretty well. He took note of the street name and number on the house. Clarke got out of the car and opened up the back door to let Briggs out. Jessie wrapped her legs around Briggs and tensed her muscles to stay glued to him.

"You're ok; you're ok," Briggs repeated to her. She had been silent for the second half of the car ride. Briggs didn't know if she had just given up her fight, or if she had muted herself out of fear. Clarke grabbed the duffel bag from the back and led Briggs up to the house.

A young couple appeared in the doorway; the man reached down and placed his hand gently on the boy's head. "Is she asleep?" the man asked Clarke.

"No," Clarke replied curtly. "She's just hesitant."

The woman smiled sweetly at his comment. "Please come on in," she said, backing away from the door so that Clarke and Briggs could walk into the house.

"HI!" the boy yelled up to Briggs.

"Hi," Briggs said back to him, not quite as loudly. "What's your name?"

"Luke." The boy reached up and grabbed Jessie's ankle. "HI!" he yelled again.

Jessie pulled her leg up away from him, keeping her face tucked into Briggs' neck.

"I don't think she's ready to talk to us yet, Luke," the woman said gently to him. She took his hand and got him to sit on the couch in their living room.

"Agent Briggs," Clarke said, getting his attention, "this is Matt and Annie Henderson." Briggs let go of Jessie with one arm to reach out and shake the couple's hands.

As they greeted one another, Briggs could hear Jessie start to whimper again.

"You've already met our son," Mr. Henderson said with a smile. "He just turned seven; we've had him for two years now."

Briggs sat on the couch and tried to get Jessie to sit up in his lap. Seeing her start to get emotional again, he took Paige's blanket and wrapped it more securely around her back.

"She's so small..." Mrs. Henderson thought aloud. "And we were told that she had been placed with..."

"Yes," Briggs responded quietly. "She's been with the FBI."

"Cool!" Luke yelled.

"Why don't you go play in your room?" Mr. Henderson suggested to his son.

"Actually," Briggs said, cutting him off, "it might be better if he stayed." Briggs knew that Jessie was intently listening to everything that had been going on around her. "Come sit with us," Briggs said to the boy. Luke hopped up next to Briggs and watched the little girl.

"Do you like living here, Luke?" Briggs asked him.

The boy nodded, but continued to stare at Jessie.

"Is she scared?" he asked Briggs.

"I think so... Should she be?"

"No," Luke said. He pushed up onto his knees to try and see her better. "It's really nice here."

Briggs noticed that Clarke was checking his watch, so he quickly took out his phone and texted the address to Mike. He looked across the room to get the couple's attention. "Jessie doesn't talk too much, but she is very smart. She likes to read and write and draw..." He thought about what he really needed to say. "She scares easily," he said quickly. "She's quiet, and she'll hide in small places - closets, under furniture... stuff like that. She has some bruises on her back and legs, about a week old, and we've treated burns on her back. The bandages will need to be changed within a day or so..."

He watched the couple's reaction as he talked, looking for how they interpreted the new information.

Clarke had given them some paper work and had moved back towards the front door.

"You're gonna take care of her, right?" Briggs said to the boy. Luke nodded at Briggs, who put his hand out to get a high five from the little boy.

"Ok," Briggs said softly to Jessie, "you can do this." Briggs saw that Jessie's tears were becoming steadier. He tilted his head down more so that he was whispering in her ear. "Mike's already on his way here. He's going to stay right outside in his car."

The woman walked over to Briggs and placed her hand on Jessie's back. Despite the crying, Jessie let the new woman take hold of her. The girl still had one hand in a fist around a piece of Briggs' shirt, but with a little bit of coaxing, they were able to get her to completely let go of Briggs.

"Is this your favorite blanket?" the woman asked her softly, rocking Jessie in her arms. When Jessie didn't nod her head, the woman looked over to Briggs. "She'll come around," he said.

"Can we read a Transformers book, mom?!"

"I don't know if she likes Transformers, sweetheart..."

"Please?!"

"Well, we can try. Go get it."

Briggs rested his hand on the side of the Jessie's head to say goodbye. "I'll see you soon, ok?"

Jessie nodded once, but kept her face hidden, still refusing to look at the inside of the house.

Briggs felt empty as he followed Clarke back to the driveway.

He surveyed the road and took notice of the surrounding houses before getting in the passenger seat.

* * *

><p>Paige nervously paced the kitchen, waiting for one of them to get a text message or call from Briggs. It had been almost 30 minutes since he had left Graceland with Jessie.<p>

"You're sure your phone is on?" she asked Mike. Charlie, Johnny and Jakes had gone to their respective rooms. They had all said they needed to get work done, but Mike was pretty sure they just knew Paige needed space.

Mike sighed and walked over to her, tracing his fingers down her sides. His hands on her hips held her still, preventing her from walking another lap around the island.

"He'll call soon," Mike reminded her.

They had taped Jessie's drawing of the seven of them to the refrigerator and Paige's eyes were transfixed to it.

"We need a better plan," Paige said.

Mike tilted her head up and kissed her. She lingered in the moment before shaking her head and pulling away from him. She took his hands in hers. "You're right," she said, trying to be realistic. "He'll call soon..."

Mike smiled at her, not believing her at all.

"Do you want to hold onto my phone yourself?" he asked her.

Paige reached her hand into his front pocket and grabbed the cell.

"Hey!" Mike said playfully, pulling his hips back away from her.

"You said..."

Paige slid the phone out and checked for messages, knowing well enough that there weren't any there.

"Come on," Mike said to her. He ran his hand down her arm and then laced his fingers with hers, squeezing her hand for reassurance. "I think I know something that has to happen to make your plan work."

She didn't like how vague he was, but Paige allowed Mike to lead her upstairs.

He sat down on the floor in front of his desk and reached up behind him for the laptop. Paige sat next to him on the floor and leaned her head up against his shoulder as he opened up a web browser.

She had one hand on his thigh and kept the other wrapped around the cell phone. She also had her own phone in her lap, but she knew that Briggs was much more likely to call Mike over her.

Mike quickly typed into the search bar and smiled down at Paige after he had clicked on the site he wanted to find.

She gasped and held onto his leg, but sat up a little straighter next to him to see the screen better.

"Are you sure?" she asked.

He replied with another kiss and then opened up the file that had been linked to the webpage. Across the top of the screen it read: State of California - Application for Adoption.


	42. Chapter 42

"Click on the PDF." Paige scooted closer to Mike on the floor of his bedroom, his laptop still propped up between the two of them.

"It says that we would already need to be approved as a foster home."

Paige sighed. "I know that this is a long shot... we're not even a-" She cut herself off.

"Not even a what?" Mike asked inquisitively. He looked over to her, wanting her to continue. He knew what she was thinking. They weren't even officially a couple.

"I just- it just seemed to have moved very quickly, Mike. We're not legally together; you don't even technically live here anymore; we just aren't going to get approval." She threw her head back and sighed up at the ceiling before checking Mike's cell. "This is why undercover agents don't have families..."

"I'm not on salary as an undercover agent anymore, Paige."

Jaw dropped, she stared at him. How could she have forgotten? She wanted to ask him right then and there if he was still seriously considering moving back to DC. He would never admit it, but she knew that he was bored with the desk job. Would he have to take Jessie to DC? Could she move to DC herself? Could Mike drop his undercover work and stay in Cali?

"You lose the undercover job," Paige began, "and you would have to leave Graceland."

"I know that, Paige," he said a little too harshly. He immediately regretted it. "Jessie could be a permanent CI? How easy would it be to take down some serious soccer-mom drug rings if you had a kid on the team?" He was laughing, trying to lighten the tension.

"The major take-down of my career," she said sarcastically. "Jessie is not a prop."

"I know that." Mike took hold of Paige's arm, slowly moving his fingers over her skin in a gentle caress. "I'm just trying to make sense of all of this," he said softly.

She checked the phone again.

"Paige, he still hasn't-"

The buzzing of the phone silenced them both. Paige stared down at the screen and read quickly. "It's an address. That's it. It's the address."

Mike took the phone from her and typed the address into the web browser, pulling up a map to see where Briggs was. "It says it's twenty-five minutes from here," Mike told her.

Paige popped up to her feet. "Well, let's go. If he's leaving that's thirty minutes of undocumented..."

Mike stood up with his laptop now closed and tucked under his arm. "No, you're too hot."

"I'm what?"

"No, Paige, like hot. You're too emotionally invested. You should stay here and wait for Briggs to get back."

"I'm emotionally invested? And you're not too hot to go?"

"I didn't say I was going..."

"Briggs texted you. You're going." She almost gave him the phone back, but tucked it into her front pocket instead. "And I'm coming with you."

There was knocking on the door. "Yo! Can I come in, or are you two..."

"What, Johnny?!" Mike yelled to him through the door.

Johnny slammed the door open and looked quickly back and forth between the two of them. "I just got a text from Barone. Wants me to come over tomorrow. Says he has replacement product."

"That's great, Johnny," Paige said, her eyes gleaming. In all of the drama, she had forgotten how much she wanted to catch the bastard.

"What, John?" Mike asked, noticing that he was hesitant to continue with his announcement.

"H-he said, that I'll get to meet his... kid."

"He knows where she is?!" Mike yelled at him.

"I don't know!" Johnny yelled back. "He thinks he's gonna find out soon though!"

Paige turned to Mike. "Warren. Car. Now."

"Did Briggs send you the address?"

"Yeah," Mike said, "We are going to go watch the house." He grabbed his car keys, wallet, and his laptop. "Let us know when Briggs gets back."

"Us?" Paige asked him, a smile sneaking onto his face.

"Yeah, us. Come on." The two of them moved past Johnny and ran down the stairs and out to the car.

* * *

><p>Jessie had remained quiet after Briggs left. The new lady holding her reminded her of Paige. How she spoke. How she rocked back and forth whispering to her. But Jessie still hadn't looked at any of them.<p>

She listened carefully across the room when the boy had started to read the book, but she didn't know what he was talking about and kept her head buried.

"Do you want to see your room?" the nice lady asked her. Jessie didn't nod, but the woman stood up with her anyway and walked for a few seconds. Jessie could feel that the woman had sat down on a bed. "Do you want me to stay with you more?" she asked.

Jessie didn't answer her.

"Do you want some time by yourself to go through your bag and take out your toys to play with? We have some books and toys in here for you already too; you can see if you like any of them." She tried to be upbeat with the girl, and was delighted when Jessie nodded slightly.

She placed Jessie down next to her on the bed and slowly stood up, making sure that the girl was ok with not being held.

Jessie rolled over to her stomach, hiding her eyes and covering herself with Paige's blanket, still refusing to look.

"You can take a nap if you want," she said softly. "Your bag is right next to you if you need anything from it."

Jessie heard the door close and waited a few more minutes before squinting around the room to make sure that she was alone.

She sat up and slowly opened her eyes. The room was smaller than the one she had stayed in at Graceland, but it still seemed big to her.

The walls were beige and there was a basket across from the bed with a few stuffed animals in it. She reached over for the bag on the bed and unzipped the duffel.

She carefully emptied the bag, putting the clothes in little piles on the bed, and smiled when she saw that three of the books she had read with Paige and Johnny were at the bottom of the bag.

She slid them under the pillow at the head of the bed and flipped the bag upside down to see if there was anything else left.

Jessie was pleased with herself when she saw the small black square-shaped battery fall out onto some of her shirts. She picked it up and investigated it before sliding it into a pocket in her shorts.

Leaving the other items on the bed, she wiggled underneath the comforter and laid her head back on the pillow. She slid out a book and read it to herself, hoping that no one would try to come talk to her.

She looked over to the open window frequently, wondering if she would be able to see Mike's car from where she was.

Unfortunately, her nerves prevented her from walking over to the window to see for herself.


	43. Chapter 43

Mike and Paige had been sitting in the car for over three hours before they saw any movement in front of the foster home. There was a man leaving the house and getting into an SUV in the driveway. "35-year old male leaving property in blue SUV." Mike spoke into the tape recorder.

"Is that really necessary?" Paige asked.

"We've been building this case, Paige," Mike said. "I don't know if it's important or not, but just... I would just rather be safe. Did you find them online yet?"

Paige had been searching the address in Google, trying to see if they were listed. They had brought the laptop with them in the car and had managed to pick up Internet from one of the homes in the neighborhood. "Nothing. Do you think we can go through the FBI site and see if they're listed there?"

"Give me the laptop."

"You don't want to just tell me your password?" she asked with a grin.

He shot her a disapproving look and she quickly quickly retorted. "I'm sorry, jeez."

He typed robotically into the site with Paige eyeing the keyboard. "I would never tell you mine either," she said quietly.

"I wouldn't expect anything else." He put the address in the database and was pleasantly surprised when a profile popped up in the browser. "Here it is," he said. "Matthew and Annie Henderson. Married for ten years. Adopted a boy, Luke Henderson, in fall 2012."

Paige reached out to the laptop and turned it towards herself. "Anything else?"

"No..." Mike said, scanning the page. "No photos or records."

"Run background checks," Paige said firmly.

"Paige, they've already done that. Don't you trust the-?"

The look she was giving him made him stop talking. He logged into another part of the site and ran background checks, with Paige nodded approvingly as he searched.

"Do you think Briggs is home from headquarters by now? Should we call?" Paige asked him.

"Yeah, try him again," he said.

Paige went to her recent calls and tried Briggs. She sat up a little bit straighter when she heard him answer.

"Hey, P! How's the stake-out?"

"Mike and I are doing well. Very little movement so far. How did it go?" she asked, already somewhat knowing what he was going to say.

"Better than I expected. It helped that I told her Mike was already on his way to watch her."

"How were they?" Paige asked him.

"Great, Paige. Really, don't be concerned about what happens in the house. Now, if Johnny's right... then we need to be concerned." Mike had his hand out with his palm up. Paige pushed it away, but Mike persisted.

"Did she say anything to you at all?"

"No," he said quietly. "But, she was ok." He did his best to reassure Paige that she needn't go into the house.

Mike gently placed his hand on the phone. "Here," Paige said, a bit annoyed, "Mike wants to talk to you."

She reluctantly handed the cell over to him and crossed her arms in front of her chest.

"Did you talk to Johnny yet?"

"Yeah, he told me about the text when I got back to Graceland."

"Alright, just keep us posted if Barone talks with him again. I don't want to be blindsided out here."

"I know, Mikey. When do you want to trade shifts?"

"What's he saying?" Paige asked.

"Wants to know when we want to go back. He'll send someone else-"

"No," Paige said firmly. "I'm not leaving."

"Did you hear that, Briggs?" Mike asked him.

"Yep. Ok, but let me know if you change your mind," Briggs said. Mike could tell he was smiling.

* * *

><p>Jessie threw the blanket over her face when she heard the bedroom door creak open.<p>

"Hi!"

It was the boy. She heard footsteps getting closer.

"Do you want to play?" He tapped on her shoulder. "Do you like pizza? My dad went to go get some for us."

She rolled onto her side, facing him, and hesitantly stared at him. He had sandy blonde hair and bright blue eyes. He wore a giant smile when he saw that she was looking at him.

"Are you still scared of us?" he asked innocently. He waited for an answer, rocking back and forth on his toes.

"I was scared when I got here. Mom reminded me today."

Jessie scooted away from him when he climbed up onto the bed.

"Oh, I have this one!" he said, pointing at one of the picture books. "It's really good!"

He opened the cover the looked down at the page. "You can read that?" he asked.

Jessie nodded, feeling challenged by him. His eyes grew wide. "No way," he said to her, shaking his head. "I only learned last year and I'm older than you are."

He looked around the room and pointed to a colorful poster on the wall. "What does that say then?"

Jessie looked back and forth between the poster and the boy. She took a breath and mumbled quietly to him.

"What?" he asked her.

"You are my sunshine," she whispered.

Luke dropped his jaw at her. "Who teached you?" he asked her.

Jessie thought about Katia, and the previous night's events came rushing back to her.

Luke saw that she was starting to cry and he moved off of the bed.

Jessie rolled away from him and held Paige's blanket close to her face as she softly cried into it.

"Mom!" Luke yelled, running out of the room. "I didn't mean to!"

Jessie heard more footsteps a few minutes later. She looked over to the window. Mike had to be out there. He wouldn't leave her.

"Hey, Jessie," the lady said sweetly. "Do you want some pizza? Matt just came home with it."

Jessie tried to silence her cries, but her little hiccups didn't mask her emotions well.

"Oh, sweetheart..." The woman walked over to the bed and picked Jessie up cautiously, holding her like she had done earlier that day.

"You know that we won't hurt you, right?" The woman was excited when she saw Jessie nod.

She walked with her out into the hallway. "Do you miss your FBI friends?" She didn't quite know how to phrase the question, but when Jessie nodded bigger and whimpered loudly, she knew she had figured out why the little girl was so upset.

"We will try to visit them soon, ok?" Jessie nodded and clung to the woman. "I'll bet they were really nice to you. What were their names?"

Jessie froze. She racked through her brain, trying to remember what Johnny and everyone had said to her. Was she allowed to say? Was she supposed to pretend?

Jessie shrugged her shoulders and didn't talk, hoping that she wouldn't ask about Graceland again.

The woman put her down on a chair and Jessie realized that she had been seated at a table in the kitchen. There was a plate and a cup in front of her, along with three other place-settings around the table.

"Daddy!" Luke screamed, running over to the man as he came back into the house. Jessie turned to watch, and saw that the man was carrying a square box.

"Are you excited about me or about pizza?" he asked his son playfully.

"Ummm."

"That's what I thought." The two of them walked into the kitchen.

"Oh, hello," he said, looking at Jessie with a smile. "Are you excited for pizza too?"

Jessie looked down at her lap and waited patiently, hoping that they would let her eat with them.

The woman tried to get her attention. "Is juice ok?"

Jessie nodded, but kept her eyes down. She was relieved to see that she now had a full glass of juice in front of her. She watched Luke start to drink out of his own glass. Nothing bad happened to him.

Jessie reached out and grabbed onto the glass with two hands. It tasted delicious.

When they were all seated together, a slice of pizza was put onto her plate. She waited for Luke to eat again, to make sure that it was ok.

"It might still be a little hot," the man said to her. Jessie lifted it up with two hands and took a small bite. She kept eating until it was gone, never dropping it back onto the plate. She reached out for the juice and heard the doorbell ring.

* * *

><p>"Who is that?!" Paige asked Mike. There was a man in an FBI jacket standing on the porch of the house.<p>

"I have no idea."

"He's one of your people!"

"No," Mike said clearly. "I've never seen him- Shit."

"What?"

"I have... I have seen him. His picture was in the file. It was in the-"

Paige went to open her door, but Mike reached out to her and grabbed her wrist. "This is what we've been waiting for, Paige. I know you don't want to hear it."

"Mike, we really aren't going to let a criminal..."

They watched in silence as the front door of the house opened. The man they now knew to be Matt Henderson was shaking the con-man's hand. "He's not FBI..." Mike said to himself. "Please don't fall for this."

* * *

><p>"Jessie!" Mr. Henderson yelled into the kitchen. "Someone from the FBI came to visit you!"<p>

Jessie's whole face lit up. She knew Mike would come get her. She hoped that Paige was there too. Johnny and Charlie had told her that if they were wearing their letters, she was allowed to stop playing pretend.

She jumped off of the seat and ran over to the living room. "I'll let you talk with him, ok?" Mr. Henderson said, thinking that she would still be too shy to have him around.

Jessie ran past him over to the door. Hands grabbed her sides and lifted her into the air.

It wasn't Mike. Or Johnny, or Jakes, or Paul.

She knew who it was.


	44. Chapter 44

Jessie tried to scream, but the man held her close to his chest and immediately ran off the front porch.

Mike and Paige watched as Jessie tried to kick him, but he restrained her with ease and opened the car door.

Paige was furious at the way he threw Jessie into the back seat, slamming the door in the little girl's face. Mike's hand was still holding Paige's wrist; he started the car with his free hand, nervously waiting to begin the tail.

Mr. Henderson, hearing the car door, ran out into the front yard, but it was too late. Jessie was up on her knees in the back seat of the car, her hands banging on the window. The tears fell freely down her face as the car sped backwards out of the driveway.

Mike and Paige could see that Mr. Henderson was yelling something as he ran to the bottom of the driveway to chase the car.

His efforts had no effect on the kidnapping.

"Drive!" Paige screamed, shaking Mike's hand off of her wrist. Mike sped down the street after the car, keeping a safe distance so the driver wouldn't be suspicious.

"Call Briggs," Mike said to her, not taking his eyes off of the car in front of him.

Paige reached for her cell and dialed the number. "Briggs!"

"What happened, kiddo?"

"They got her."

"Who, Paige?"

"We don't know..." Paige's voice cracked into the phone. She gasped as Mike took a sharp turn onto the highway.

"Are you still at the house?"

"No. Someone pretending to be FBI came. He kidnapped her. She's in the back of a car. W-we're tailing it." Paige could barely get the words out clearly as she explained the situation to Paul.

"Ok, Paige, ok," he said soothingly into the phone. "We'll get her."

Paige took a breath and tried to pull herself together. "Can Johnny set up the meet tonight?"

Mike snapped his head at her. "We don't even know if she'll be with him tonight!"

Paige swatted at his thigh and shook her head at him.

"I'll talk to Johnny," Briggs said. "We'll get the pick-up arranged soon."

"No back-up," Paige said sternly. "Just us."

She could hear Briggs' hesitance in the silence.

"We'll talk more about it once we've set up the meet. Do you think he's leading you right to Barone?"

"Where else would he take her?" Paige asked, her voice sounding defeated.

"I don't know," he replied curtly.

Paige watched as the car maneuvered carelessly through different lanes. Mike skillfully kept up the chase.

"I'll call you back when we get to the house," Paige told Briggs.

Paige and Briggs said their goodbyes before they ended the call.

Mike and Paige drove in silence for the next ten minutes on the highway. Paige's occasional sniffles were the only sounds to break the tension.

Paige gasped when she saw the car swerve over to the right-hand lane. Mike checked behind him to make sure he could follow suit and swerve as well. He took the same exit as the car.

"She didn't have her bag, right?" Mike asked.

"No..." Paige sat up tall in her seat, trying to spot Jessie in the backseat of the car up ahead.

"We lost the GPS."

"We're not leaving her." Her phrasing was robotic, but not in the least bit surprising to Mike.

"I didn't mean that..." he said. "I just, thought it would have been helpful."

"Is that what you've been thinking about? You're not usually this quiet." Paige broke her eye-contact with the car to look over at him.

"Yeah, well, that, and how I'm going to make my case for guardianship." The light turned green and he sped off after Jessie onto the main road.

"Guardianship?!"

"Yeah," he began, "well, you said yourself adoption won't work. We won't get approved as fosters so... we can use the case against Barone to apply to be legal guardians." His voice was almost too casual.

"Just like that?"

"I don't know." He grinned with a hint of mischief in his eyes. "I've never tried it before," he said.

Paige was already on her phone, Googling the differences between the legal jargon. "This," she said, scrolling through the wikipedia article. "This could work."

They turned down a side street. The change in the architecture and style of the buildings was apparent. They had definitely gone to a worse side of town.

"Do you think he's renting a new house?"

"I would say renting is probably a strong word to use," Mike replied. "If the address has any criminal activity connections it will only help our case."

"She must be so scared."

The car slowed down and pulled onto a small driveway with large cement cracks and overgrown weeds. Mike and Paige took note of the house, but kept driving past it to not catch the driver's attention.

"Hurry," Paige said to him as he drove around the block. "I want to see her."

"I don't know if that's such a good-"

Mike drove around the block and parked a few houses away on the opposite side of the street.

Paige reached out her hand and grasped his thigh when she saw the two men. One was bent down into the backseat of the car; the other stood a few feet away with his arms crossed over his chest.

Mike took Paige's hand in his and described the scene into his voice recorder.

He cut himself off when he saw the man forcefully pull Jessie out from under the back seat of the car. He wanted to look away so badly; he could feel fire rising in his throat as he watched, but something prevented him from being able to shift his eyes from the scene.

He held onto Paige, watching Jessie struggle against the man. When the little girl saw the second man though, she silenced her scream and stilled her body. She was placed on her feet and she obediently walked like a zombie over to him.

Mike couldn't have been sure, but he wondered if the little girl had spotted Paige and himself in the car. He doubted that that had been the case. He held onto the thought with hope though, because the only alternative reason to her surrender, was defeat. Defeat and fear.

The man picked her up and kissed her forehead. As Jessie's tears dried, Paige's began to fall.

"We'll get Johnny and Briggs here," Mike repeated to her. He kissed her gently and wrapped his arm around her in the car. "Tonight."


	45. Chapter 45

When Briggs and Charlie arrived at Mike and Paige's makeshift surveillance spot later that evening, Paige was itching to know what Johnny's cover story was going to be.

Briggs and Charlie stayed in their own car, a few houses down from where Mike and Paige were, at an attempt to not draw attention from any surrounding neighbors.

Mike had called Briggs a few minutes after the men had led Jessie into the house.

He told Briggs that they had found Barone. Mike recognized him from the files, and even though Paige had never seen his photo, she knew in her gut that the man at the house was the girl's father.

They had been on-and-off the phone with their housemates about where they were and what their own kidnapping plan was going to be. It seemed simple: Johnny would use his cover to make the buy from Barone. Briggs, Mike, and Jakes would arrest Barone and Johnny. When the house was cleared, they would go back in for Jessie. It was similar to what the girl had experienced the week before, and they thought that it was pretty flawless.

Seeing Briggs' car, Mike called his cell to get some updates.

"Hey, you guys doing ok?" Briggs asked him.

"Yeah, what time is Johnny going in?"

"Barone texted him. Told him 8:00."

"Do you have the-?"

"Yeah, Mike," Briggs said, cutting him off, "we brought your vest and your handheld..."

"What's he saying?" Paige whispered, annoyingly tapping on Mike's leg.

He reached down with his free hand and stilled her fingers, running his thumb back and forth across her hand.

"Ok," Mike said, "So, I will meet up with you once Johnny goes in." It came across more like a question.

"Yeah, he's gonna stall for a few minutes. He won't be able to hear us though. I'm going to flash my lights at him to let him know we can hear him once he tests the mic out."

"We'll need to call the cops to take Barone down to the station for the arrest..." Mike said. Paige smacked her hand, and Mike's, into his leg. He bolted his eyes over to her and she shook her head at him.

"Jakes is taking care of it, Mike," Briggs explained. "He'll have a car."

"And then we're just going to sneak her out?"

"You have a better idea, Mikey?"

In Mike's hesitation, Paige reached up and grabbed the phone from his hand.

"Briggs - talk to me," she demanded.

"Hey, P," he said calmly. "We'll get her out."

"I want to go in with Johnny. I can create a cover as his girlfriend."

"No, Paige," Briggs said to her. He could barely see her in the front seat of the car that was parked down the street. "If Jessie hears your voice, she is going to blow this whole thing. We don't want Barone to know that it's us. He can't know that we are the ones who had her. You would put us all in danger."

Paige brought her hand up to her temple after considering his point. "You're right, you're right... but you don't think that she'll run out to Mike? When was the last time Johnny even made a buy?!"

"I don't think she'll run out to any of us. But you... you're different, Paige. I don't know if Jessie will be able to keep her cover if you're in there."

Paige took a breath and slowly handed the phone back to Mike, who had been patiently waiting with his palm up.

"Hey, Briggs," Mike said to him.

"Is she ok, Mike?"

Mike glanced with soft eyes over to Paige. "Yeah," he said simply. "Give me a call back when you hear from Johnny or Jakes."

"Sure, Mike. Do you guys need anything?"

"No, we're all set."

"Alright, well, I'll see you in an hour or so... you know, actually in person and not just in the car down the street." Mike could hear him chuckle on the other end.

Mike snickered. "Talk to you soon."

* * *

><p>When Johnny got to the scene, Mike and Paige waited with anticipation for Briggs and Charlie to flash their lights at him, cueing Johnny and letting him know that they had the audio.<p>

Jakes was waiting a few blocks over with a police car that he had "commandeered" - a returned favor from a friend who owed him.

Mike held Paige's hand as they watched Johnny walk up to the front door of the house. Paige wanted to jump out of the car and run over to him. She kept repeating phrases in her head, reminding herself that Johnny could handle it. She tried to get herself to believe that staying back was the better thing to do... to protect her.

They couldn't see much when the front door of the house opened. They knew Johnny had gone inside, but weren't able to ID the person who had opened the door.

A few seconds ticked by and Paige had to remind herself to breathe. Mike kissed the top of her hand and made his way out of the car to go meet with Briggs and get set for the bust. Paige was on his heels as she ran around the other side of the car to catch up to him.

Charlie gave them both a big hug when she got out of the car to greet them. She opened the trunk and helped Mike gather what he would need before he went inside.

"Please, let me hear," Paige said to Briggs. Her tone was almost a whine. "You need to get ready to go in there. Let me listen. What's his line?"

Briggs looked up at her. He couldn't resist those eyes. He very reluctantly switched places with her, allowing Paige to take over in the driver's seat. "He'll say, 'We should do this again sometime.' It should be a few minutes."

Paige put the earpiece in place and focused on the house, looking for any signs of movement. "C'mon, Johnny," she said to herself. She couldn't remember a time when she had been this nervous about a simple drug deal.


	46. Chapter 46

Johnny surveyed the living room when he stepped into the house. He could tell that it hadn't been lived-in in a while. There was an old couch, two folding chairs and a scratched-up coffee table on a stained carpet. He didn't see any signs of Jessie.

"I'm glad you could make it, Johnny," Barone said to him. He sat on the couch and Johnny sat in one of the folding chairs across from him. "You remember Alec from the club, yes?"

Johnny nodded over at the other man. "Oh, yeah, what's good?"

Alec looked at Johnny, but didn't say anything to him. He stood up against the wall with her arms folded across his chest, watching.

"So," Barone said to him, patting his hands on his knees, "I have a problem. I have lost my job, and now I need to make some new friends."

Johnny smiled at him. "Yeah, well, why do you think I'm here?"

"How much were you going to buy from Carlito?" he asked Johnny.

Johnny squinted his eyes at the man. "A dozen bricks."

Barone chuckled and pointed over at Alec. "So you have $200,000 - just stuffed into your pockets?" he asked Johnny with a comical tone.

The two men continued their laughter, trying to belittle Johnny.

Johnny crossed his leg and folded his arms. "Yo, I wasn't gonna buy it all at once! I got 50,000 on me." Johnny took 2 wads of cash, one from each front pocket, and waved it up at the men before restoring it to his pockets.

"So how did you get to return home last night?" Barone asked him.

Johnny felt as though he was being interrogated.

Something didn't feel right.

"I texted you before about it."

"Remind me."

"Well, it's just that - I hadn't actually made the buy yet. They couldn't tie me to the rest of Carlito's op so, besides me being with him last night, I had nothing to do with it. Well, that and 'cause I didn't know about the girls."

Johnny was hoping to gauge a reaction on the man's face, but Barone didn't give anything away.

"I don't know what you're referring to..." Barone said robotically.

Johnny nodded and looked around the room some more.

* * *

><p>"Just make the deal already, Johnny!" Paige was still in the front seat of the car, ear piece being held firmly against her head. She was trying to imagine the scene that was unfolding in the house.<p>

"Are they close Paige?" Briggs asked her. He, Jakes, and Mike were ready to do the bust. They each wore bulletproof vests and carried their handhelds. Charlie had gone back into the car to sit with Paige.

"They would be - if Johnny had the balls to just throw the money on the table! Ugh!"

* * *

><p>"Are you ok? You seem nervous," Barone said.<p>

"Oh, uh, yeah, it's just that I've never been to this part of town before."

Barone smirked at him. "Do you want something to relax? Usually my buyers want a product sample."

Johnny watched as Barone took out a brick from under the table and sliced it open a few inches with his key.

"Oh, no that's not my thing. I sell, but I don't use." Johnny winced at his own phrasing, afraid that he sounded too formal.

"He still seems nervous," Alec said from the other side of the room.

Johnny was hoping that Paige hadn't had a heart attack yet. He figured she was listening in on the conversation.

"You became uh, 'friends', with Carlito very quickly, and then all of a sudden 'poof'," Barone said. "Carlito is gone."

Johnny knew he needed to save himself. "No, man, look the way I see it, Carlito said your house got busted a few days ago. They've been watching you long before I came around."

Barone squinted at him. "So you aren't a cop? No... FBI man?"

* * *

><p>Paige jumped out of the front seat of the car on a mission to go in the house. "He knows," she shouted when she felt arms wrap around her torso. "He knows!"<p>

Mike kept Paige steady while Briggs stood in front of her. He squatted slightly so that they were at eye-level. "Knows what, Paige? Who knows?"

Paige instinctively fought against Mike and Briggs. "Barone asked Johnny if he was FBI."

"And then what happened?" Briggs asked her, placing his hands on her shoulders.

"I-I don't know."

"It's ok, Paul," Charlie said. She had put the earpiece on in the car. "Johnny's still under."

* * *

><p>"You say you are not an agent." Barone spoke almost sadistically.<p>

Johnny shook his head and tried his best to look offended.

"We will see," Barone said. "Jessie! I want to introduce you to someone."

Johnny held his breath. He heard a door open and little footsteps.

"Oh yeah, man," Johnny said quickly, "congrats on getting your daughter back."

Johnny thought he might get sick right there in the living room. Jessie wouldn't look at him; she kept her head down as she shuffled over to her father.

"Yes," Barone said, "she was, returned, to us today." He picked her up and she didn't fight him. "Where she belongs," he added.

"Kids need a strong father-figure in their lives," Johnny said, trying to change the subject and win him over.

"Look at this man," Barone instructed. "His name is Johnny. Did you see him while you were on your... little adventure?"

Jessie kept her head down. Barone moved her so that she was looking out to Johnny. His hands were around the girl's ribs; he held her away from his body, out towards Johnny.

"Did you see him?!" Barone asked again.

"It's nice to meet you," Johnny said to her calmly. "What's your name?"

Jessie snapped her head up at him. Seeing the expression on her face, Johnny felt his stomach churning once more. He knew that Barone had just shouted the name a few moments ago, but he wanted to give the little girl clues about how to act.

Jessie shook her head slightly. Johnny could tell that Barone was getting angry. He shook Jessie in his hands and screamed at her. "DID YOU SEE HIM?!"

Johnny did everything in his power to force a smile at her. He wanted to grab her and hold her close. She was a few feet away from him, but it may as well have been miles.

* * *

><p>"Paul!" Charlie yelled.<p>

Briggs thought Charlie was about to tell him to go in the house, but she just shook her head with ominous eyes.

Paige saw Charlie's change in expression and tried once more to run at the house. Mike and Jakes held her back, reminding her that going in there would ruin the case, and potentially harm Jessie.

"Just get in the car, Paige," Mike said soothingly. He ran his hand up and down her arm. "Go sit with Charlie; nothing bad will happen to Jessie."

She turned in his arms and rested her head on his chest. "But something bad has already happened..." Her voice trembled as she spoke.

Briggs turned towards them, having just spoke with Charlie. "Jessie is there with them. Barone wants her to ID Johnny," he explained.

* * *

><p>"Look," Johnny said, putting his hands up. "I'm not in the business of scaring little kids. I've never met her before."<p>

"Just get on with it already!" Alec said.

Johnny pulled the money back out of his pockets and placed it down on the table.

Barone put Jessie down and bent over to get pick up the money. In the few seconds that he was looking away, Johnny motioned at Jessie with his head for her to leave. Johnny held his breath as the little girl backed out of the room.

"So, we got a deal?" Johnny asked, hoping his nerves hadn't creeped into his voice.

Barone unrolled the money, investigating it. He slid the brick of coke across the table to Johnny.

Johnny put out his hand; he and Barone shook. "We'll have to do this again sometime," Johnny said clearly.

Within seconds, Briggs had kicked in the front door. He, Mike and Jakes stormed into the house.

"You set me up?!" Johnny screamed at Barone. He reached out with his fist and slammed a punch into Barone's jaw.

The man fell backwards and Johnny could feel his arms being forcibly held behind his own back. He was being shoved down onto his knees. Mike was reading him his rights.

Johnny watched Briggs roll Barone over to cuff him. Jakes already had Alec in handcuffs as well.

Johnny knew he needed a reason to be separated from the other two men, so he kicked back into Mike's shin. Mike yelped in pain and twisted Johnny's arm in revenge. "Take them outside," Mike said to Briggs and Jakes. "I need a minute with this one to teach him a lesson." Mike spoke through gritted teeth.

He and Johnny waited patiently for Briggs and Jakes to escort the men out of the house. When the door had shut behind them, Johnny jumped up to his feet and ran out of the room; Mike was right behind him.

"Jessie?" Mike asked sweetly. "It's ok now. It's Mike and Johnny."

Johnny rested his hand on a doorknob in the hallway and slowly opened the door. Mike and Johnny sighed in unison when they saw Jessie huddled in the corner. Mike pushed passed Johnny and kneeled in front of the girl. "Hey," Mike said to her, trying to gauge how upset she was.

"You did so good," Johnny said, stepping into the closet behind Mike.

Jessie wouldn't look at either of them. "We're not pretending anymore, Jessie," Mike said calmly. He took out his badge and placed it gently on her hand. Jessie studied it before looking up at him. Her eyes were watery.

"Hi," Mike said, finally getting her attention. "Do you want to come back home with us?"

Mike put his hands out and Jessie leaned into him, letting her head fall onto his shoulder. Mike stood up with her and walked out of the small space, but Jessie whimpered in protest. "They're gone," Mike whispered to her. "They're gone... Do you want to go see Paige?"

Jessie nodded into his shoulder and wrapped her legs around him. Her hands gripped the straps on his vest.

Johnny double checked to be sure that the men had left with Jakes in the squad car. He reached out to open the door, but Paige, Charlie, and Briggs forced their way back in. Paige's eyes were searching the room and she held her breath when she spotted Jessie cradled in Mike's arms.

Paige couldn't prevent the tears that came flooding. "I'm so sorry," she said to Jessie. "I'm so sorry we couldn't save you sooner."

Upon hearing Paige's voice, Jessie twisted her head around to look for her. Paige put her hands on the girl's sides and tugged at her a bit to see how she would react. Jessie welcomed her and threw herself at Paige. The woman could feel her shaking, but she was surprised to notice that the little girl wasn't crying.

"You were amazing," Paige said, rocking her back and forth. Paige remembered how the praise had calmed Jessie down when she was in the ambulance the night before.

Mike had his arm wrapped around Paige's back, comforting her.

"We were outside the whole time. We followed you here and we never left you," Paige told her.

Jessie moved her hand down to her pocket, sliding the small GPS tracker out. She clenched it in her fist. Briggs noticed what the girl had done and carefully unwrapped Jessie's fingers from around the small object. He held it up and tilted his head at Paige and Mike.

"You kept it on you?" Mike asked her softly. He knew that the GPS had not aided them in finding her, but he was in awe of the role she played in the bust.

Jessie nodded into Paige's chest. The agents smiled.

"You were always going to find a way to get her, weren't you?" Briggs asked Paige.

Paige nodded confidently.

Briggs took a breath and sighed. "We'll make it work," he said to himself. Charlie reached out and took his hand.

"Jessie?" Briggs asked. "Do you want to come back to Graceland and live with us?"

Jessie looked up at him and immediately started to cry. Paige held onto her more tightly and kissed the top of her head.

"Are you ready to go home?" Paige asked her. The little girl's cries grew louder and Paige could feel the wet tears on her neck. She looked up to Mike and saw the joy in his eyes. He leaned down and kissed Paige delicately.

Johnny looked over at the table and then back to girl. "And somebody just made $20,000..."


	47. Chapter 47

Briggs was the first to leave the house, with Johnny right behind him. They gave Paige an "all-clear" sign and she walked out of the front door with Jessie in her arms; the girl was still crying into Paige's shoulder. Mike followed right behind them, hyper-aware of his surroundings.

"Oh, thank God," Charlie said, running over to them as they made their way across the front lawn. She bear-hugged Briggs and kissed him in relief. "We're not bringing her back to them, are we?" she asked, confused as to where Jessie was going.

"No, love," he said. He kissed her gently. "I'll call the bureau in a few minutes... tell them in it was some kind of emergency cross-conflict. We'll act like Johnny didn't know she would be in the house before he made the deal..."

"I love you, Paul Briggs," she said, running her hand down his arm. Charlie's eye caught Jessie and Paige. Paul watched as Charlie ran over to them. She wrapped her arm around the little girl and cuddled into her, making sure everything was alright.

Briggs got the car started and Johnny opened up the back so that they could store their weapons. Paige noticed that Jessie's cries got softer when she heard the car engine. "We're going, we're going," Paige whispered to her, trying to confirm the girl's suspicions. "Should we go with Briggs or Mike?" Paige asked her, seeing if she would talk.

Paige wasn't the least bit surprised when Jessie didn't answer her, so Paige took her best guess. "Should we go with Mike?" she whispered with a smile. This time, Jessie nodded her head.

Johnny stood in the middle of the road, looking back and forth between the two couples, undecided as to what he should do. Jakes had dropped him off before and he didn't have a car of his own there. Briggs and Charlie were being way too weird and he didn't want to be the third wheel with Mike and Paige either.

Paige noticed his hesitance and whispered to Jessie, "Can we let Johnny come in our car too?" She didn't know what Jessie thought of Johnny at the moment, but she was relieved when Jessie nodded even bigger into her shoulder.

"Johnny!" Paige said over to him, "let's go!"

Mike had put the vest back in Charlie's car (he hated driving in it) but he kept his gun on him. He ran back over to Paige and made sure she was ok before getting into the driver's seat and starting the car. Johnny helped Paige get into the back and he slid in next to her.

Johnny could feel his cell vibrating in his pocket and he saw that it was Charlie. "Hey, everything good?" he asked her, wondering why she was calling him.

"We're going to go back to the foster house. You know, to get her stuff and explain to them..."

"Yeah, ok, Chuck," he said quietly. "Did anyone ever tell them not to file a-?" He stopped himself because he didn't want to use the word "kidnapping" in front of the little girl.

"Hope so," Charlie said, understanding what he meant. "And if the police department doesn't have a missing persons file on record, it's because they're in on it and they're trying to cover it up."

"Oh, yeah," Johnny said. Mike was raising his eyebrows at him through the rearview mirror as they drove back out to the highway. He wondered what their conversation was about. "Ok," Johnny said, "so I'll see you back at the house later?"

He hung up the phone after a few seconds and leaned forward into Mike's ear. "Charlie and Briggs are gonna go get her bag from the house and explain not to put out a missing person's report on her." Mike nodded and kept his eyes out on the road.

"But," Johnny continued, "if they say that they did, you know, call it in, and there isn't any paperwork on it downtown, that means the cops are covering it up. It never happened." Johnny could see Mike squinting his eyes.

"Everything ok?" Paige asked the boys. "Yeah, P," Johnny said, sitting back and leaning into her. He put his hand on the back of Jessie's head and the girl leaned into his touch.

She had calmed down considerably and was starting to take in her surroundings. They hit a small bump in the road and Paige changed her arm placement to get a better grip on the girl, but Jessie instinctively snapped away from the hand that had grabbed at her side.

"You're ok, you're ok," Paige repeated to her, trying to calm her down once more. "It was just a bump. We'll be home soon."

Johnny considered how Jessie had reacted and had a different thought. "Hey there," he said gently, moving Jessie's hair out of her face, "when you were in the car, or in that house where I found you tonight, did somebody hurt you? Does your side hurt?"

Mike's eyes glared to the back of the car through the rearview mirror.

Jessie pushed her face into Paige's neck, hiding from Johnny. Paige tried to lift Jessie's shirt up on the side, but the girl beat her to it and grabbed the fabric, holding the bottom of her shirt down.

Paige could sense how scared she was and figured they would wait a little while longer before causing her any more stress.

Nevertheless, they did their best to discreetly look the girl over during the rest of the ride back to Graceland. "Are you hungry?" Paige asker her. Jessie shook her head slightly.

"No? Really?" Johnny asked, trying to be playful. "I know I'm hungry. If I made myself a snack, would you help me eat it?" he asked her. Jessie nodded into Paige's shoulder. "Oh, ok, good," Johnny said with a smile.

"Should we have some ice cream?" Mike asked them from the front seat.

"With chocolate chips?!" Johnny asked him.

Mike laughed at his remark. "Who is the kid in this car right now?"

"Uhhh, men can like chocolate chips too, Mikey."

"Do you want some ice cream when we get back to the house?" Paige asked Jessie quietly.

Jessie nodded and pulled herself up a little more in Paige's arms.

They drove in silence the rest of the way back to Graceland, and Paige was pretty sure that Jessie had been in and out of a light sleep.

When they pulled into the driveway, Johnny got out of the car and went to unlock the front door.

Mike helped Paige get out of the back seat and wrapped his arms around her so that the little girl was in-between them. Paige closed her eyes and kissed him softly. When Mike pulled away a few seconds later, he noticed a tear on her cheek. "Hey, hey, hey," he said, using his thumb to wipe the tear away, "what's the matter?"

"What if-," she started. "What if they want to take her tomorrow?"

Mike tilted her head up and stared into her eyes. "We will figure this out," he said. "We can go through the DEA; I can get a desk job; maybe they'll just let her stay in protective custody. We can prove it to them that she's safe here."

Paige nodded, but was still doubtful.

"Are you guys coming, or what?" Johnny asked, standing in the doorway. Jessie must have felt the cold on her back when Mike turned away from them because she reached her hand around the back of Paige's neck and held on tightly. Mike ushered them into Graceland.

Johnny turned on some lights and Jessie opened her eyes, wanting to check and make sure that they were indeed back at Graceland.

"Ice cream?" Johnny said to the little girl, tilting his head at her.

Jessie smiled slightly and Paige walked into the kitchen with her. She sat down on the bench at the table and turned Jessie around so that she was facing the table as well.

Mike had gotten some bowls out and scooped ice cream into each of them, but when he got to the fourth, Johnny grabbed the spoon from him. "I want to do it," he whined comically.

Mike was glad to hand over the scooper and Johnny helped himself to another giant serving of ice cream. They carried all the bowls and spoons to the table and sat down to join the girls.

Paige glanced at Johnny's bowl. "No chocolate chips?" she asked him.

He sighed. "We don't have any..." he said grumpily.

Paige had a few bites and was happy to see that Jessie was eating too. Hoping that she was distracted enough, Paige tried to lift up the side of the girl's shirt again.

Jessie squirmed away from her slightly and kept her elbow tucked in to her side. "I won't touch it," Paige said soothingly, "I just want to see."

Paige gently coaxed her into lifting her arm up off of her side so that she could lift up the shirt a bit more. She could see some new bruises along with added coloring to a few of the old ones.

"Mike," Paige said, getting his attention. She made a camera gesture with her hand.

He nodded. "We'll add them to the file. It'll help our case."

Johnny looked back and forth between them. "So, are you guys... going to try and adopt?"

"We won't get approved," Mike explained. "But we're going for guardianship."

Jessie finished the last bite of her ice cream and leaned back into Paige. The woman ran her hand through the girl's hair. "Ready to get some pajamas on? Do you want a bath?"

Jessie shook her head back and forth. "Just pajamas?" Paige asked her. Jessie nodded once and turned to cuddle into Paige more.

Paige stood up and put Jessie on her hip. She walked over to the fridge and took out a pitcher of water, pouring a glass. She helped Jessie take a drink before finishing it off herself. "Ok," she said, bouncing the girl once in her arms, "let's go get some PJs on."

They moved towards the steps, but when Jessie looked up at the dark staircase she panicked and protested. Jessie wouldn't speak, but she shook her head fiercely and tried to break away from Paige's arms.

Paige wasn't expecting her reaction and immediately moved back into the kitchen. "Ummm," she said to the boys, "I don't think we're sleeping upstairs tonight."


	48. Chapter 48

Paige held Jessie in the kitchen, where it was bright, and tried to smile at the girl. "You don't want to sleep in your bed?"

Jessie buried her face in Paige's neck once more and shook her head back and forth.

"We can stay up there with you," Paige added. "Do you want to sleep in my room?" she tried. Jessie didn't change her attitude. "Mike's room?" Jessie looked up at Paige, and hesitated, but then shook her head no again.

Paige took a breath, "So we're sleeping on the couch down here?" Jessie's eyes were pleading with Paige. The girl didn't nod, but she pointed over at Johnny and Mike, who were still seated at the table in the kitchen.

"They're sleeping on the couch too?" Paige asked, understanding what Jessie meant.

The little girl nodded once before laying her head back down gently on Paige's shoulder.

Paige snickered over at Mike. "Can you hold her while I go get changed? I'll grab her pajamas too."

Mike nodded and walked over to them. Having heard Paige's comments, Jessie let Mike take her from Paige and she latched onto him tightly.

"Hey, Johnny!" Paige yelled from the top of the stairs a few minutes later. "Can you help me out?"

"Yeah, P!" Johnny ran up the stairs to meet her and Mike moved into the living room, sitting down with Jessie on the couch.

He didn't know what to say to her and decided to just sit in silence with her until Paige got back.

Mike smiled when he saw a giant pile of blankets walking itself down the stairs. "Am I at the bottom, Mikey?" Johnny asked.

"One more step, John," he replied.

"Oh screw it," he said. Johnny spread his arms apart and let the pile of blankets, pillows and a comforter fall to the floor.

"Look," Mike whispered to Jessie. She twisted her head over to see Johnny, and a smile creeped across her face.

Johnny had fallen forward onto the pile, stretching out over the mountain of bedding. "This is what you wanted, right?" Johnny said to her. His voice was muffled by the pillow that he had face-planted.

Jessie giggled to herself, but averted her eyes over to Paige when she saw the woman coming down the stairs behind him.

"Johnny! Really?" she said, stopping on the steps.

He sighed and pushed himself off of the pillows. He stood up and grabbed one of the blankets from the bottom and pulled at it to get the whole pile to slide away from the stairs.

Paige walked straight passed him, over to Mike on the couch. She placed what she was holding on the coffee table in front of them.

"Can I hold you?" Paige asked her, putting her hands out towards Jessie.

She nodded at her and Mike helped shift her over to Paige's lap. Before Jessie could cuddle into her, she motioned to change her into the pajamas. "Let's put some clean clothes on, ok?" Paige said softly, while gently pulling Jessie's shirt up over her head.

Mike took out his phone to take pictures of the bruising.

"Can you put your arms up over your head?" Paige asked her. She held the girl's hands and moved them upward to expose the sides of her ribs.

Johnny had brought the pile of blankets onto the carpet and now sat on the table to look at the marks as well.

Mike quickly took some pictures and Paige helped Jessie put on the new t-shirt.

"I'm gonna go...," Johnny said, standing up form the table. Jessie flipped her head around and reached out to him, wanting him to stay.

"I'll be right back," he said to her, "I can't sleep in these clothes!" He gestured to his dress-pants and the button-down shirt, which were very un-Johnny-like.

She nodded and turned her head back towards Paige. Mike placed his hand on the back of Jessie's head. "I'll be right back too, ok?"

Jessie wrapped her arms around Paige and let Mike head upstairs to get changed as well.

"C'mon," Paige said standing up with her, "let's go brush our teeth and use the bathroom before we fall asleep."

Paige was a bit surprised when Jessie tried to wiggle out of her arms, wanting to stand up and walk over without being carried. She took the toothbrush from Paige and followed the woman into the bathroom. Paige helped her with the toothpaste and lifted her up a bit so she could reach the sink. When she had finished, Paige helped her with the pajama pants.

"Do they fit, ok?" Paige asked her. "I don't think you've worn these ones yet."

Paige pointed to the toilet. "Do you need to go?"

Jessie nodded and Paige picked up the other pants from the floor.

"Just come out here when you're done ok?"

Jessie nodded once more and allowed Paige to step out of the bathroom.

Mike was already back down in the living room. "She ok?" he whispered, noticing that Jessie wasn't standing with her.

Paige shrugged her shoulders. "She still hasn't said anything."

Mike took her in an embrace and they locked eyes before sighing into a kiss. They pulled away from one another when they heard a small squeak from the door. They snapped their heads over to the sound and Jessie ran over to them as quickly as she could, throwing her arms around their legs.

Mike bent down and lifted her up. "You all ready for bed?"

Jessie looked at him and then slowly pointed over to the lamp.

"We can leave the lamp on," Paige told her reassuringly.

Johnny jogged down the stairs. "What'd I miss?" he asked.

He was wearing a plain white t-shirt and some dark basketball shorts. He grabbed a pillow and blanket off the floor and pointed to one section of the L-shaped couch.

"Is this where I'm sleeping?" he asked Jessie, continuing to act as if she was in charge. Jessie smiled at him and nodded.

Johnny put the pillow down by the corner cushion and laid on his back with his feet outstretched all the way to the end of the couch. He lay in silence for a few seconds before looking back over to them. "You're gonna make me sleep by myself?!"

Mike realized that Johnny was trying to help them out. "Can you keep Johnny company?" Mike asked in a whisper into her ear. Jessie nodded and Mike put her down.

Jessie walked over to him and Johnny helped her climb up onto the part of the couch where he was.

She lay flat on top of him, using his chest as a pillow. Johnny fixed the blanket so that it covered her up to her shoulders and wrapped his arms around her back. He smiled when she grabbed onto his sleeves.

"Mike and I will sleep right here, ok?" Paige asked her, putting their pillow on the opposite part of the corner cushion.

They were grateful once again to have a reason to sleep in each other's arms, and Johnny not being able to make fun of them for it, made the situation even sweeter.

Mike got situated on his side, but realized they might need just a bit more space, so he took all of the back-rest pillows off the couch and tossed them onto the floor. He slid back to give Paige more space, and when she lay next to him, he felt so comfortable with his arm locked around her torso. Paige snuggled into him and pulled the blanket they were sharing up towards her face.

Jessie looked over to check on them for a second before she finally shut her eyes.

* * *

><p>Jessie didn't know what time it was when she woke up a few hours later, but the noise at the door made her snap her head up off of Johnny's chest to look. She relaxed when she heard Paul and Charlie's voices, and they were equally surprised at the scene in the living room.<p>

"Are you ok?" Charlie asked her sweetly. Jessie nodded and rested her head back down.

"You made them have a sleepover?" Briggs asked her, laughing to himself. Jessie nodded and pointed to what was left in the pile of blankets.

"Oh, should we sleep here too?" Charlie asked her.

"Chuck, it's one in the morning, and there's no more space."

"Oh, come on," she whispered, "we'll sleep on the down comforter and use all of these pillows from the couch. I don't even want to get changed. I'm too tired to go upstairs."

Briggs turned the auto-fireplace on low and made a bed out of some of the thicker blankets and the pillows. He took off his jacket and his shoes before laying down next to Charlie on the floor. He grabbed the remaining blanket and covered the two of them, happy to have Charlie in his arms.

"Goodnight," Briggs whispered up to Jessie. She stared at the small dancing flames before shutting her eyes once more.


	49. Chapter 49

When Jakes finally made it back to Graceland just before dawn, he wasn't expecting to find a makeshift slumber party in the living room.

He let the front door shut behind him and trekked across the foyer into the house. He halted when he saw his roommates; Briggs and Charlie were cuddled on the floor and the others actually managed to look comfortable on the couch.

Jakes considered joining them for half a second, but he shook his head a few times and decided against it. He was holding onto a folder and thought about waking up Briggs to let him know what had happened at the police station, but he figured the news could wait until morning.

He turned and made his way up the stairs, wanting to fall asleep before the sun stole the night away from him completely.

Jakes hadn't realized it, but his boots trotting up the steps were the cause of Jessie's eyes shooting open once more. The girl took a sharp breath in and quickly glanced around the space to locate her protectors.

She kept herself still, and she relaxed when she felt the rise and fall of Johnny's chest up against her cheek.

Jessie tried to go back to sleep, but she wasn't very tired anymore. She did her best to just lie still, wanting to wait for someone else to wake up, but she knew that it would take forever for the agents to stir on their own.

Johnny seemed like the most vulnerable target. She didn't want to make him angry, but nevertheless, Jessie picked her head up a bit and poked Johnny in the shoulder to see if she could wake him up.

She hesitated for a moment when he moved his head slightly, but he let out a funny snore and she realized that she had been unsuccessful. She tried to wake him one more time, tugging on his shirt, but she didn't want to mess with him too much incase he got angry at her. She just couldn't be sure.

One thing Jessie was sure of though, was that she was thirsty. She convinced herself that she could walk to the kitchen on her own.

One of Johnny's arms, which had previously been holding onto her, was now stretched up over his head, making it easy for the little girl to slide down off the couch from under the blanket.

Feet planted firmly on the floor, Jessie moved around the coffee table on her tiptoes and stepped up into the kitchen. She walked over to the refrigerator and reached up for the pitcher of water. She used two hands to safely lift it off the shelf, but it was too heavy to carry over to the table. Not having any other option, she placed the pitcher down on the floor and let the refrigerator door close.

"You need some help there, kiddo?"

Jessie gasped and jumped away from the voice, but within seconds she was being lifted off the floor. There was a hand on her back and soft voice apologizing for startling her.

She knew it wasn't Mike's voice, but she was relieved to see Paul when she finally got the courage to look up at the person who had gathered her off the floor.

"I'm sorry..." Briggs whispered again. He sat her up on the counter and slowly ran his hand through her hair. He smiled again before bending down to pick up the water pitcher.

"You're thirsty?" He had already grabbed a cup before she could answer.

He poured her some water and she reached out for it with both hands, swallowing it in one gulp. He refilled her cup and poured himself a glass as well.

Briggs had so much to say to the girl, and yet, he had no idea how to start the conversation. It wasn't like him to be at a loss for words, but he truly didn't know how to play his cards. He looked back into the living room and was able to tell that no one else had woken up.

He hadn't been able to sleep very well on the floor and had no intention of lying back down there with Charlie.

"So... I don't want to wake anyone else up," Briggs tried. "But I have some questions for you. Do you think we could go up to my room? Should we get Charlie to come with us?"

Jessie nodded and put the cup down next to her on the counter. She ever-so-slightly moved her hands out towards him and Briggs lifted her into his arms.

He walked over to Chuck and gently placed Jessie down. "Just one second," he whispered to the girl.

Briggs knelt next to Charlie and gently kissed her. She playfully swatted at him in her sleep. "Come on, Chuck," he said softly. "Let's get upstairs."

Charlie nodded and squinted her eyes up at him. "Everything ok?" she said groggily, noticing Jessie watching them carefully just steps behind Briggs.

"Yeah," Briggs said cooly. "Moving this party to my room. You need sleep. She's up for the day. I want my bed... and we need to have a chat."

As Charlie pushed herself up onto her feet, Briggs scooped Jessie back up. He turned towards the stairs and spotted the duffel bag that he and Charlie had brought back from the foster home the night before.

"Oh, I almost forgot!" Briggs whispered excitedly. He bent down with Jessie in his arms to unzip the bag and pulled out Paige's purple blanket. "Look what I've got," Briggs said smiling at her. Jessie graciously took the blanket and brought it up into her chest, her little knuckles turning white from the death-grip she had on it.

Charlie took Briggs' other hand and they walked upstairs. Jessie looked around the new space when Briggs opened the door to his room, and she giggled when he plopped her down onto the bed. Charlie immediately tucked herself under the covers and curled up into the pillows to get a few more hours of sleep.

"Okay, kiddo," Briggs said to Jessie. He sat up against the headboard and situated the girl in his lap so that they could talk. "How are you feeling?'

Jessie shrugged her shoulders and kept her head up against his chest.

"I promise that life in this house isn't always quite this crazy," Briggs added. "But... we are real agents and we do have some days where we need to be away from home for a long time, or maybe we need to work in a dangerous place. We have to pretend to be other people sometimes. And we don't always get to decide our schedule, which is why... why the FBI didn't think it was a good idea for any kids to live here. They don't think we can do our job and take care of kids. Do you understand that?"

Briggs knew that he had rambled on and that she probably hadn't kept up with him, but Jessie nodded at him anyway.

"And you and me were the only people to see that new family yesterday. If you lived in that house, well, the FBI thinks that they would take better care of you because their jobs aren't as tough." He felt as though he was indirectly bragging on himself a bit, but continued on anyway.

"Did you like those people? With Luke?" Briggs asked. Jessie shrugged her shoulders once more.

"Were they mean?"

Jessie shook her head to say no.

"But, you don't feel safe there, right?"

Jessie nodded, glad that he was speaking for her.

Briggs sighed. "So, we have a bit of a problem." He shifted her in his lap so that they were sitting face to face. "We want you here, kiddo, we really do. But what happens if everyone has to be at work at the same time?"

Jessie looked down into her lap and held onto the purple blanket.

"That's what's gotten us into trouble so far..." Briggs reached out and put a hand across Charlie's forehead. "But in a few months we would have had to make that work out anyway."

He smiled up at Jessie and tried to regain eye contact. "Charlie's having a baby," he reminded her. "Would you want to still live here with a baby living here too?" Jessie smiled from ear to ear and nodded happily.

"Maybe we'll have to add babysitting to the chore wheel," he joked to himself.

"And school. You would start school in a few weeks. You would need to do all your work. No getting into trouble. No talking about the FBI at school or with your new friends. If you want to train to be an agent, you have to get good grades in school. You would have to follow all our house rules..."

Jessie continued to nod at him as Briggs rambled on about her potential life at Graceland.

"Is this really where you want to live? With all of us in this secret house?"

Jessie stared at him for a few seconds and then gently leaned forward, falling onto him in a warm hug.

Briggs sighed. "Ok, little one, we will try to make this work."

They heard someone running up the stairs and Briggs realized his mistake. The door to his bedroom flew open and an exasperated Johnny stood in the doorway. "You can't do that, man!"

"Shhhh! Johnny!" Briggs aggressively whispered, gesturing down at Charlie asleep in the bed.

"We didn't even know you were back! And I wake up and she's gone!" Johnny's hands were up on his head as he paced the room.

"Go give Johnny a hug. He needs one," Briggs said, turning Jessie around. She ran down the length of the bed and jumped into his arms.

"We were just having a chat about her future at Graceland, John boy."

"She's talking?" Johnny whispered.

Briggs shook his head, "Not yet," he said calmly. "Is Jakes back?"

"I can go check," Johnny said. He looked down at Jessie. "If he's back though, you're waking him up. I'm not about to feel the wrath of Jakes this early in the freaking morning. You're cute. He won't hate on you."

"Don't be too sure about that Johnny," Briggs said.

Johnny walked out of the room with Jessie in his arms and slowly went over to Jakes' door. He knocked a few times, but there was no response. "Jakes!" Johnny yelled. "You up?!"

Johnny backed away from the door when he heard a grunt and some movement. He was expecting the door to open to reveal a very irritated version of Jakes, but what he got was a folder slipped under the doorframe out into the hall. Johnny grabbed the folder and shifted Jessie so that he could open it. There were only two pieces of paper. The first one disinterested him and the second seemed to be useless as well. But a short phrase caught his eye at the bottom of the paper.

In a standard typewriter font, the end of the correspondence script read: BARONE, JESSICA: CONFIDENTIAL INFORMANT. EMERGENCY CUSTODY = GRACELAND. GUARDIANSHIP TO ARKIN, PAIGE OF D.E.A., PENDING TRIAL OF BARONE, JOSEPH.

Underneath the title statement it said:

CONFIDENTIAL INFORMANT STATUS: JULY 2014. $20,000 AWARD. CASE #27410. TO BE CLAIMED PENDING SECURE ACCOUNT WITH GUARDIAN.

Johnny read the paper three times, processing the new information. He was in shock, but the time stamp on the document was only a few hours old.

"I love you, Dale Jakes!" Johnny yelled through the door.

"Tell him you love him," Johnny said to Jessie, bouncing her once in his arms.

Jessie's facial expression was priceless and she threw her head down into Johnny's shoulder, the smallest of laughs escaping through her smile.

"Go away!" A pillow slammed up against the back of the bedroom door. "Just... go build the case, Johnny!" Jakes yelled from him bed.

Johnny shook his head in disbelief at what Jakes had accomplished overnight at the police station.

"He did it?" Briggs asked. He was now standing out in the hall in front of the bathroom.

"Emergency custody. Paige's got her. Pending the... the trial." He didn't know how to phrase the condition in front of Jessie.

Briggs looked back and forth between Johnny and the stairs. "Go!"

Johnny held onto the folder and carried Jessie down the stairs to Paige and Mike. He stood her on the floor quietly at the foot of the stairs and whispered something in her ear. She nodded at him and took the piece of paper, trading the blanket with him for it.

She walked over to Paige and Mike, with some encouragement from Johnny, and held the paper up over her chest. Mike's arm was still wrapped around Paige and Jessie poked into his biceps to get him to open his eyes. Mike yawned loudly and blinked a few times before noticing who was standing in front of him.

"Are you ok?" he said instinctively.

"Hey," Paige said softly, opening her eyes. Mike's movements had woken her up as well.

"What is that?" she asked, grabbing the paper from Jessie.

"Check the bottom, P!" Johnny yelled. She could hear the smile in his voice.

Paige was speechless. "Mike! Mike! She's staying. She's... she's... mine?" The agent didn't know whether to be relieved or terrified.

Mike grabbed the paper and was beaming. "Did Jakes do this?" he asked. Jessie nodded, remembering where the papers had come from.

Paige sat up and grabbed the girl, holding her close to her chest. Mike read over the rest of the documentation, sitting up and leaning into Paige for comfort.

When he had finished comprehending the page, Mike looked up over to Johnny.

"You need to..." Johnny said.

"Yeah. Everything," Mike responded. "Statements, photos, crime reports, medical records. Hell, even her drawings." Mike turned to Paige and passionately kissed her in celebration. "This file will need to be perfect."

Paige looked down at Jessie and got her to make eye contact. "Do you understand sweetheart? Do you want to stay here with us?"

Jessie threw one arm around Paige and reached out with her other hand for Mike.

They held onto the girl for a few minutes, and just before they tried to move off the couch, the agents heard a small murmur.

"What, sweetheart? It's ok. You can talk." Paige moved her hand in circles on Jessie's back, hoping that the positive news was enough to get the girl to speak to them for the first time since she had been removed from Graceland.

It took a few seconds, but with some encouragement, the faintest little voice whispered, "I love you."


	50. Chapter 50

**Two Months Later**

It was mid-October, and for the first time that season, Southern California finally felt like fall. The morning air was just brisk enough to cause a chill, and the smells of summer had definitely faded.

Even though the temperature had changed, one morning ritual remained intact.

From the living room window, Mike could see Briggs and Jessie out on the ocean sharing a surf board, lounging in the sun and relaxing in isolation before the chaos of the day brought them back to reality.

Mike laughed to himself about how similar the two of them really were. He'd come to realize that the morning surf sessions were a chance for the two of them to bond, to talk about things that were important to them. It was therapeutic.

Mike was sometimes a bit jealous that he couldn't take Jessie out there himself to ride in some waves, but he knew that surfing was something Jessie enjoyed doing with Briggs (and he was still a bit fearful of having her out on the water with his less-than-spectacular surfing abilities).

On the rare (or not so rare) occasion that Briggs had pulled an all-nighter, Jessie knew she could wake Johnny or Jakes to escort her out into the waves for her daily morning routine.

Mike looked more closely at the two of them in the water. Briggs was sitting up with his feet hanging off into the ocean, and Jessie was lying on her back in front of him, her legs crossed on top of the board.

Mike jumped slightly, almost letting the coffee from his mug spill, when he felt a small kiss on the back of his neck.

He hummed when he realized who had snuck up behind him. "Mhmm, good morning," he said smiling. He turned around to lock eyes with Paige and greeted her with a soft kiss.

"Are they still out there?" Paige asked him quietly.

Mike gestured over to where Briggs and Jessie were in the ocean. "Yeah, they've got about ten more minutes before she'll be late."

"Give 'em five," Paige said.

Mike snickered at her. "They always make it on time," he reminded her.

He leaned in once more for another kiss, reaching around behind her to run his fingers through her hair.

"Oh, look!" Paige said, turning him back towards the glass wall. They caught a glimpse of Briggs and Jessie riding in a small wave together. "Pretty soon he won't have to hold her anymore," Paige said.

Mike shook his head. "Pretty soon she'll need her own board!"

"Are they still out there?"

Mike and Paige spun around towards the back of the house. Charlie was making her way down the stairs.

"Yeah, but they're coming back up now," Paige yelled over to her. She figured she'd get a start on breakfast and joined Charlie in the kitchen.

"I'm heading uptown for a case; want me to drop her off?"

"Yeah, sure Charlie," Mike replied. He could hear the pitter-patter of feet on the staircase that led to the deck and opened up the patio door to greet them.

"Good morning!" Jessie said, smiling up at Mike when she saw him. She threw her arms out towards him, but Mike took a big step back.

"Ehhh - you're soaking wet! Go get dressed! Did you pick out clothes last night?"

Jessie nodded at him and ran past him to the stairs. She was used to climbing the two extra flights each morning.

"Wetsuit in the tub!" Paige yelled after her.

When they knew that she was out of earshot, Paige looked over to Briggs. "Did you get the email loaded onto the computer?" she asked him.

"Yeah, I'll have her read it when she comes back down. We're probably going to need to explain it though."

"You think telling her right before school is a good idea?" Mike asked, following Briggs into the kitchen.

"She'll be fine, Mikey," Charlie said, pouring herself a cup of coffee.

The four of them peered out into the living room when they heard the front door shut.

"Long night, D.J.?" Briggs asked.

Jakes grunted and robotically walked over to the fridge, taking out some juice and yogurt. "Is she still here?" he asked in a low voice. "Did you tell her yet?"

"Just in time, baby," Charlie said to him.

"Yeah, and Mike's making omelets," Paige said.

Mike tilted his head at her and smiled. "I am? This is news to me..."

Paige put the frying pan down on the stove top. "You know you want to," she added.

She slid the carton of eggs in front of him and pleaded with her eyes. She knew she had won when she saw him flip open the carton with his free hand.

"Somebody else is really craving an omelet right now too," Charlie said, looking down at her stomach. Her bump was starting to show more and more each day.

Mike smiled at her and started cracking the eggs. "You sure you can take her?" he asked Charlie.

"Yeah, no problem."

"And I'm picking her up at three," Paige said.

"Mikey and I are running a reverse today. We've got to go pick up the-" Briggs cut himself off when he heard Jessie coming back down the stairs. She was holding a piece of paper in her hand.

"What's that, sweetheart?" Paige asked, lifting Jessie up into her arms for a morning hug.

"I can't do it," she said softly.

"Do what, kiddo?" Briggs asked her. He walked over to them and slid the piece of paper out of Jessie's hand.

"Oh, this does seem tough," he said. Mike looked over to Briggs with a puzzled expression and Briggs flashed the math worksheet at him.

"How about you and me go over it together at the table?" Briggs asked her.

Jessie nodded and Paige put Jessie down so that the girl could join Briggs.

"It's too early for math," Jakes said, his head in his hands on the table.

"It's kindergarten, D.J." Briggs chuckled.

Mike dished out scrambled eggs and omelets while Paige packed Jessie's lunch.

"So we have to color in six-sevenths," Briggs explained. Jessie nodded blankly.

"How would you draw six-sevenths?" he asked her.

Jessie shrugged her shoulders. Mike looked over at her, hoping she would be able to visualize what she needed to do in her head. Reading had seemed to come so easy for her, but they knew she needed a little extra help with math.

Jessie was terrified of school at first, but after a few days of getting to know the teacher and the environment, she had learned to fall in love with it. The agents had considered sneaking one of them undercover into the school building to keep an eye on her, but the staff convinced Paige that Jessie would be just fine.

Staring down at the homework sheet in front of her, Jessie looked defeated. They thought Jessie had given up when they saw her walk away from the table, but when the little girl stopped in front of the stone column next to the fireplace and looked up at the wall, the agents realized what she was thinking.

She kept her eyes on the chore wheel for a few seconds before running back over to Briggs. She grabbed the pencil and drew the chore wheel down onto the paper.

"So "6" sevenths..." Briggs reminded her. Jessie nodded and colored in all but one piece of the chore wheel.

"It's always six-sevens," she said. Jakes smiled at her minor mispronunciation.

"Because Johnny never does his work?" Paige asked her.

Jessie shook her head. "No the seven part is crossed out!"

The agents knew she was right. They had never taken the time to adjust the board when Lauren had been removed from Graceland. For the past year or so, they had shared the remaining duties between them.

"We've got to fix that, don't we?" Mike asked her. Jessie nodded and tucked the completed homework into her backpack.

"Good morning!" Johnny said jogging down the stairs. Jessie watched him carefully from the corner of her eye.

He stopped in the middle of the kitchen and crossed his arms. "You guys didn't hire a graffiti artist to decorate the house or anything right?"

His roommates all threw him confused glances.

"Oh, so no? You didn't? Really? Because I got home late last night and I go into my room..."

Jessie quietly ducked her head down and slid off the bench.

"And all across my chalkboard," Johnny continued, sweeping his arm out in front of him, "there are huge pictures of flowers covering up my notes about this new case!"

Jessie was now sitting under the table with her legs crossed in front of her.

"So you guys wouldn't know anything about that? Nothing?" Johnny asked playfully. He got down on one knee and looked under the table at Jessie. She could tell from his smile that he wasn't actually mad, but she still knew she had done something she shouldn't have.

"I'm sorry," Jessie said quietly.

Briggs scooped her up from under the table. "No more drawing over other people's stuff, ok?"

She nodded at him and continued to eat her breakfast.

Jakes leaned in towards her. "They probably weren't very good case notes anyway..."

"Hey!" Johnny yelled. "I heard that!"

"You'll wash it off later when you get home," Mike said to her.

"Charlie's driving you to school today and I'll pick you up after," Paige said to her. She looked over to Briggs, who was now setting up something on his computer.

"We have a little surprise before school though," he said. "Can you read this email?"

Jessie studied the laptop screen in front of her, unsure as to what they were talking about.

Within seconds, a smile was plastered across her face. "Today?!" she yelled. She snapped her head over to Paige and Mike for confirmation.

"Yeah!" Paige said cheerfully. "We've set it up with an agency in Ukraine. We are going to do a video call with Katia when you get home today."

"Thank you!" Jessie said running over to Paige. She threw her arms around the woman's legs and hopped a few times on her tip toes.

"We'll talk more about it on our way home later," Paige explained. She looked up at the clock. "You gotta go! It's a big day!"

Jessie put on her backpack and reached up onto the counter to grab her lunchbox.

"Just one more thing, really quick," Mike said. He was holding a small piece of tape that said "Jessie" on it in black permanent marker.

"I think you're right... it's time we've filled up that seventh spot."

Mike reached out to Jessie, who took the piece of tape off of his finger. She beamed a smile up to him. "Can you help?" she asked.

Mike picked her up and carried her over to the chore wheel, backpack and all.

"Right there," Mike said, "over the crossed-out part."

Jessie stuck down her name tag on the chore wheel and took a second to stare at the completed chart. She twisted around in Mike's arms to give him a hug and small kiss.

"Why does it say 'Better Mike'?" she asked him innocently.

Mike laughed at her. "I didn't want to be 'New Mike' anymore, so I fixed it."

"Now you really gotta start pulling your weight around here, kiddo!" Briggs said over to her.

"We'll help you," Mike said in her ear, "no worries."

He put her down and she took Charlie's hand, the two of them heading out to the car.

"She took that really well," Paige said after Jessie and Charlie had left.

"The wheel?" Johnny asked.

"No," Paige said shaking her head, "Katia. I thought it might make her upset."

Mike stood behind Paige. He snaked his hands around her hips from behind and rested his head on her shoulder. "She needs to know that Katia's ok. She's back with her family."

"And the FBI cleared the video call happening from Graceland?" Johnny asked.

"Yeah, we won't say too much about where she is," Briggs replied. "It was easy to arrange now that the case against Barone has cleared."

The agents had found out two weeks prior that they had succeeded in removing Jessie from Joseph Barone's custody. They had even managed to secure her the C.I. payment from the drug deal. They knew that guardianship didn't imply permanent residency, but they agreed to just take it one step at a time.

They still weren't quite sure how Jakes had managed to get the agency to agree on Jessie's placement back at Graceland, but they all thought his motivation may have come from his own experience of being adopted as a boy.

And even though Paige was technically Jessie's only legal guardian, the agents knew that they shared the responsibility equally, especially with another addition joining the house in the coming months.

Briggs, Johnny, and Jakes backed out of the kitchen and went upstairs when they saw Mike and Paige start to get intimate. Paige also had a feeling it was because the three of them didn't want to help clean up breakfast.

Paige turned around in Mike's arms and looked up into his eyes once more. "Anything else on the...?" she asked. She knew that Mike understood what she was implying.

Mike took a breath and shook his head. "I've had agents on it for a month now. Someone deleted Jessie's missing foster child report from the police system. I know it was Sid-"

"Or someone working for him," Paige added.

Mike nodded, "but I just- there's nothing to prove it!" He pulled Paige into a tight embrace and kissed the top of her head. "He's still out there, Paige. And we can't give up on nailing this guy..."

Paige wrapped her arms around his back and held on to him. "We'll get him, Mike," she said, partially trying to convince herself. "We won't let them get to her. Ever."


End file.
